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JAPANESE EPISODES 



BY 



EDWARD Hr HOUSE 




BOSTON 
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY 



Copyright, 1881, 
By JAMES R. OSGOOD & CM). 



All rights re Hewed. 






STEREOTYPED AND PRINTEl) 

BY RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, 

BOSTON. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 




fHE purpose of this little volume is to 
represent a few social and ph^^sical fea- 
tures of Japan which have seldom been 
minutely examined by visitors to that agreeable 
country. Its ingenious products are familiar to 
every connoisseur ; its students have travelled 
and dwelt among us in sufficient numbers to give 
all who desire it the opportunity of making their 
acquaintance ; and our libraries are well supplied 
with books descriptive of its history and politics. 
But of the inner life of the Japanese, of their 
domestic relations, their pleasures, or the gentler 
romance of their nature, I have found no accu- 
rate record. Nor has the singular loveliness of 
the scenery, the refining charm of which deeply 
influences the character of the people, been 
closely or sympathetically observed. Upon these 
points I have been so frequently questioned as to 
warrant the belief that the following recitals may 

3 



4 Prefatory Note. 

take their modest place among the numerous me- 
morials of Oriental experience, without peril of 
rejection as superfluous or intrusive. Necessarily, 
they touch but lightly on the themes indicated, 
and open a merely introductory view to the broad 
field they venture to approach ; but, if they lead 
the way to more enterprising exploration here- 
after, they will accomplish much of what their 
writer most earnestly desires. One of the 
sketches endeavors to portray the simple vicissi- 
tudes of rustic society, with the varying course 
of love in humble life ; every detail of which is 
authentic, although fiction may have helped to 
weave together the several facts. Another deals 
solely with the scenic beauties of a region easily 
accessible by tourists. A third narrates the 
interchange of hospitalities between foreigners 
and natives in ofiicial '' high life ; " and the last 
sets forth a form of popular amusement in which 
all classes participate, and which exemplifies the 
genial, happy, and contented spirit of the com- 
munity. To lead my own countrymen to a just 
appreciation of this pleasant land, and of those 
who inhabit it, has been my self-assigned task 
fqr many years ; and I shall be gratified if the 
pictures here offered can contribute, in then- un- 
pretending way, to the realization of that end. 



COIsTTEiq^TS. 



PAGE 

Little Fountain of Sakanoshita ... 7 

to fuziyama and back 70 

A Japanese Statesman at Home . . . 155 

A Day in a Japanese Theatke . . . 200 



LITTLE FOUNTAIN OF SAKANO- 
SHITA. 



I. 




HE honorable gentleman is fond of beau- 
tiful scenery." 

u Very fond of such scenery as this." 
''Ah! He will find it much better as we go 
forward." 
''Indeed!" 

"Truly, among the mountains it is surprising. 
May I ask where the gentleman will stop to- 
night?" 

" It does not matter ; anywhere in this neigh- 
borhood." 

" Has he {danna san) heard of Sakanoshita ? " 
"Never." 

"Clearly not. Nobody — no foreigner — has 
ever visited it. At least, none has ever stopped 
there." 

" Is it remarkable ? ' ' 

" Noblest sir, it is wonderful. Not because I 

7 



8 Japanese Episodes. 

live there ; no, in truth. It is the universal re- 
port. Everybody will say the same of Sakano- 
shita." 

'' Then, how far are we now from it? " 

" One ri and eighteen cho,^^ 

''That is about an hour and a half in time. 
Very well : we will stay there, I suppose." 

''Thanks! Eeally many thanks! It will not 
be possible to regret it. There is nothing like 
Sakanoshita." 

This conversation took place at three o'clock 
in the afternoon, — a brilliant August afternoon, — 
in a pretty village on the road from Kuwana, the 
north-western port of the Bay of Ise, to Ootsu, 
at the south-western extremity of Lake Biwa ; 
which ancient thoroughfare anybody may easily 
find upon a good-sized map of Japan. My in- 
formant and adviser was one of the lads who 
drew my jiii'TiJci'sJia (man-power-carriage) , — a 
species of vehicle, which, first seen in Tokio in 
the fall of 1870, had in less than two years come 
into universal use in every part of the country 
where the roads were suflSciently level to render 
it practicable. It was little better than a cush- 
ioned chair upon a pair of wheels, but, compared 
with the old-fashioned kago which it displaced, 
was a triumph of luxury and convenience. By 



Little Fountain of Sahanoshitcu 9 

its aid the discomforts of travelling in the interior,- 
except among the mountainous regions, had been 
almost entirely banished. 

My leading ' ' power-man ' ' had for some time 
been attracted by the attention I had given to the 
growing beauties of tiie landscape, and had from 
time to time offered such passing information as 
it was in his power to bestow, with the simple 
freedom, which, among the hmnbler Japanese, is 
never aggressive, and almost always welcome. 
On the other hand, his cheery humor, and the 
slight outward superiority to the average of his 
fellows which he exhibited, had recommended 
him to my notice at moments when I was not 
engaged in contemplating nature on a larger scale. 
He was an excellent specimen of his class, stal- 
wart, alert, and full of a natural, easy grace. 
Many a Japanese workingman is a very fair Apollo 
between the ages of fifteen and twenty- five, and 
after that he becomes a respectable Hercules. If 
European and American painters and sculptors 
want masculine models which they will not need 
to idealize, they may import them in abundance 
from that distant land, and from nowhere else in 
these days, that I am aware of. This runner of 
mine was apparently a little over twenty ; and 
besides possessing all the good points of an an- 



10 Japanese Episodes. 

tique statue, with vitality thrown in, had certain 
distinguishing marks not likely to escape obser- 
vation. His costume was primitive enough : but 
his waist-cloth, instead of being plain, as is gener- 
ally the case, was of fanciful red-and-blue stuff ; 
and, which was very unusual, he wore cloth tabi 
(half shoes, half socks), and not the customary 
rough straw sandals. From these trifling indica- 
tions I gathered that he had a soul above the 
sordid considerations of his craft ; and as I 
observed that he was occasionally addressed by 
his comrades, half satirically, yet not with evil 
humor, as date-sha^ or dandy, it was clear, that, 
in spite of the limited capabilities of costume which 
he enjoyed, he had won a certain social fame in 
his humble sphere. And I afterward discovered, 
that, among the simple mountaineers of Ise, he 
was quite as clearly the glass of fashion as he 
was indisputably the mould of form. 

Before we started forward from the wayside 
cottage I questioned him further : — 

" Is there a good inn at Sakanoshita? " 

' ' Many, sir, many. It was once a famous rest- 
ing-place. In the old days it was almost always 
filled with noble lords. Yes, there are many inns ; 
but there is one more excellent than all the others." 

His listening fellows chuckled, upon which he 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 11 

grew extremely red, but with confusion rather 
than with anger. 

•' And which is that? " I asked. 

''The Fuku-ya," he answered, glowing from 
his waistband to the extremest point of his shaven 
crown, — the most comprehensive and unbroken 
blush that I ever had the opportunity of behold- 
ing. 

The others laughed aloud, and he himself broke 
into a smile. 

"Why do they laugh?" 

As he gave no immediate answer, his partner 
for the day came forward, and explained : " Ban- 
na San^ he speaks of 'the Fuku-ya,' because it 
is there that Koizumi dwells." 

" Indeed ! Then, who is Koizumi? " 

"Koizumi is the daughter of the house." 

" She is a friend of mine," added my pleasant 
colloquist, who had recovered his equanimity with 
characteristic rapidity. 

"A very pretty girl, no doubt." 

' ' Sayo de gozarimasu ! ' ' assented the entire 
body of. jin-riki'Slia men in emphatic unison. 

"Come, this is really interesting," said I. 
" We will certainly pass the night at Sakanoshita, 
and we will assuredly establish ourselves at the 
Fuku-ya ; and, if we are fortunate, we will make 



12 Japanese Episodes. 

the acquaintance of Koizumi. That is settled. 
Forward — Hay an ! ' ' 

We soon reached the edge of the mountains, 
and commenced an upward course which threat- 
ened to calm the impetuosity of some of our 
draft-men. But my young adviser seemed insen- 
sible to fatigue, and his spirits rose with the 
physical ascent. No amount of hard labor can 
ever conquer the good-humor of a Japanese 
workman ; and as we drew near our destination 
the entire party burst out into loud cries, and 
increased their pace until they had whirled us 
almost headlong to the gates of a stately but 
somewhat timeworn yado-ya^^ at the entrance of 
which, summoned doubtless by the approaching 
tumult, stood the landlady and her household, 
smiling and bowing as if our arrival had been 
the one ardently hoped-for event of their exist- 
ence. 

A few minutes later we were lying on the soft 
mats of the best apartment — the daimio's room, 
we were explicitly informed — that the inn af- 
forded, and gazing with genuine delight upon one 
of the loveliest scenes that this land of beauty 
contains. But it was still early in the day ; and, 
as the journey had been less exhausting than 

1 Inn : literally, shelter-enclosure. 



Little Fountain of SahanosMta. 13 

usual, an exposition of activity fastened itself 
upon me. I announced a determination first to 
investigate the culinary resources of the establish- 
ment, and next to explore the village. I do not 
now pretend to deny, what I did not then affirm, 
that a willingness to get a glimpse of the vaunted 
daughter of the house had some share in urging 
me forth. As I passed slowly through the 
kitchen, scrutinizing its appointments with, I 
flatter myself, well-affected earnestness, I ob- 
served a rosy- cheeked young girl engaged in rapid 
discourse with my favorite runner. Well, she 
was certainly pretty enough : there was no danger 
of disappointment in that direction. My presence 
was at first unnoticed, and I was greatly enter- 
tained to hear the manner in which I was her- 
alded by the enthusiastic and imaginative youth. 
"A very noble gentleman," he declared; "a 
gentleman of the highest possible foreign rank ; 
a great lord ; a celebrated officer of the govern- 
ment ; a mountain of dignity and a river of af- 
fluence ; one thousand riyos a month, no less, I 
know it, and have seen it, — have seen it with 
these eyes ; ' ' and an infinite deal more to the same 
fanciful effect. He was enjoying his brilliant 
fictions to such an extent, that I had not the 
heart to interrupt him, and passed out by a side 



14 Japanese Episodes, 

passage, leaving him to the benefit of the impres- 
sion he was endeavoring to produce by wildly 
exaggerating the importance of one of the guests 
he had introduced to the house. 

A short ramble, a wholesome plunge into a 
mountain stream, and supper from imported tins, 
wound up the chapter of that day. Then early 
bed, and sound repose, in spite of casual and not 
wholly inanimate interruptions ; dreams soothed 
to gentle images by the music of a hundred brooks 
and myriads of chirping semi, whose voices are 
heard only in the forests of Japan. 

Such a breezy, hearty, radiant next morning ! — 
a morning suited to the place ; the very day, of 
all summer days, for a tramp over and about the 
valley. The young jin-riki-slia man should be 
our guide. Let him appear. What ho ! — and so 
forth. 

We had not risen ; but thus early was the plan 
of the day determined upon. Again we shouted ; 
but no familiar voice was heard in response. 
Presently, however, a sliding door was pushed 
aside ; and a pair of bright eyes — the eyes of 
Koizumi — looked in upon us. 

' ' By Jove ! ' ' exclaimed my travelling compan- 
ion, whom I have discourteously omitted to men- 
tion until this moment, ' ' what a nice girl ! ' ' 



Little Fountain of Sahanoshita, 15 

"Hum, tolerably," I answered with crafty 
dissimulatiou ; but the cold corroboration was 
not received with composure. 

' ' Wh}^, she is a little beauty ! ' ' said my friend, 
with unnecessary emphasis. 

"Yes, I suppose so," I remarked, continuing 
to dissemble, like the deep conspirator of a melo- 
drama. "Where is my charioteer?" I added, 
addressing the new-comer, who still stood at the 
half-open door. 

"Ah, Yamadori," she replied. "Does the 
gentleman want him ? ' ' 

" So, Yamadori is his name. — I say, comrade, 
did you ever hear any thing like it ? My jin-riki- 
sJia fellow calls himself ' Mountain Bird,' and his 
sweetheart here is ' Little Fountain.' " 

' ' Very appropriate . " 

" Well, Little Fountain, we do want Yamadori : 
we want him instantly." 

" Extremely sorry, gentlemen ; but he has gone 
back to Kameyama." 

" What, gone back? Why, I must have him. 
Who is to take us on? Besides, he hasn't been 
paid." 

" Oh ! he spoke about the payment, and said, if 
the danna would give it to me to keep for him, it 
would be all the same. And, anyway, Yamadori 



16 Japanese Episodes, 

could not go on with you. He takes travellers 
only from Sakanoshita to Kameyama and back." 

" What nonsense ! As to the payment, it is a 
trick ; and he does not believe it will be the same. 
He thinks your smiling face will get him a double 
fare. Well, truly, I will not pay at all : I will 
pay nothing. I will even go and complain to the 
nanushi'' (village magistrate). 

The girl laughed merrily. ' ' NanusTii knows 
what Yamadori is obliged to do." Then she grew 
preternaturally grave. '' But, with regard to the 
\rick, we are incapable of it." 

"Of course, of course, Little Fountain! I am 
joking ; but at the same time I am very angry. I 
like Yamadori, though I did not know his name ; 
and I wanted him to show me every thing about 
this valley to-day. 'Tis a pity he did not speak 
to me about going." 

" 'Tis a pity the gentleman did not speak to 
him about staying. A traveller wished to start 
this morning at sunrise, — not a wealthy traveller 
and high officer like you, but nevertheless — And 
I am glad you like Yamadori. Everybody likes 
him." 

'' Except Little Fountain," I suggested. 

''Except me, certainly. But he will be back 
to-night." 



Little Fountain of Sahanoshita. 17 

"Oh I will he? — I say, comrade, do you hear 
that? He will be back to-night." 

"And we shall be in Kioto, I hope," replied 
my ambitious friend. 

How long and how earnestly I labored to dis- 
suade him from pursuing the journey with such 
violent haste, I need not here recount. He did 
not mind a day, he declared, provided it was to be 
devoted to a purpose ; but here was a proposition 
to surrender twenty- four valuable hours to utter 
idleness, with the prospect of an equal delay to 
follow. It would not do : his mind was made up. 
For my own part, I was as fully resolved to linger. 
In the first place, I had been scorched so long on 
the To Kai Do, that I wanted a day or two of shady 
rest. In the next, I wanted to see more of this 
charming valley, which was unquestionably the 
most beautiful spot I had encountered, even in 
Japan. In the third, I wanted to confer upon a 
particular subject with Yamadori. I had always 
a passion for picking up good-looking servants in 
various parts of the land, and I meditated luring 
this brisk mountaineer to my distant home in 
Tokio. Lastly, there was that about Koizumi 
which promised innocent entertainment, as well 
as opportunity for acquiring facility in the dialect 
of the old provinces, which I suddenly discovered 



18 Japanese Episodes. 

was essential to the complete enjoyment of a visit 
to the ancient capital of the realm. 

So we parted cordially ; I promising to push on 
to Kioto within three days, — a promise, which, 
as I had no purpose of keeping it when I made 
it, there could be no possible wrong in breaking. 
At nine o'clock I was left alone, so far as the 
society of my own countrymen was concerned, in 
the heart of Japan. And alone I remained, I 
may as well here give notice, for seventeen con- 
secutive days. 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 19 



II. 



As the morning advanced, I took measures to 
establish confidential relations with the members 
of the family, with the view of making myself 
as familiar as might be with the surroundings. 
From the beginning, Koizumi was of infinite ser- 
vice to me. She was solicitous for my comfort, 
and expressed concern lest I should be disturbed 
by fleas. I admitted that their presence had 
already become more than a matter of suspicion 
on my part ; whereupon, in a burst of candor, 
she declared her satisfaction that I had not ques- 
tioned her on that point the evening before ; ' ' be- 
cause, of course, I should have had to say there 
were no such things connected with our house." 
When pressed to disclose why the necessity for 
deception had existed then and disappeared to- 
day, she said it was now evident I had determined 
to remain a while : so it was useless to disguise the 
truth any longer. But I was not to suppose that 
they were very prevalent, or that carelessness was 
the cause of their coming : they would begin to 
thrive when houses grew old, and chambers went 



20 Japanese Episodes 

long unoccupied. " And we have very few visit- 
ors now," she added with a sigh. In fact, I soon 
learned that no stranger had stopped more than 
a single night, either at this house or any in the 
hamlet, for many months past. 

While I gathered in all this and other informa- 
tion, I was carefully recording in my mind the 
various details of the little maid's personal ap- 
pearance, and greatly regretting that I had no 
mastery of the pencil to fix the recollection more 
worthily and surely. There was no exaggeration 
in my friend's eulogiums. She icas a little beauty ; 
though why he said '' little," and why I echo him, 
I am not altogether sure. Little for a Japanese, 
she probably was not. I should say her height 
was about five feet. In fact, not to deceive any- 
body, I happen to know it was exactly five feet ; 
and that is considerably above the feminine aver- 
age in the East. But we six-footed foreigners 
get easily in the way of applying diminutives to 
the gentle daughters of this land, and I have not 
yet heard that they are offended at it. Koizumi 
was five feet tall, with a lithe and slender figure ; 
and, being a working-girl, although the "daugh- 
ter of the house," had a freedom and a grace of 
movement which the "quality" do not always 
possess, — chiefly, I think, because of their wrap- 



Little Foudtain of Sakanoshita, 21 

ping themselves so tightly all the while in their 
close-clinging robes. Naturally, there are no fig- 
ures more perfect than those of the Japanese 
young women. The children up to the age of 
fourteen, or as long as they have the free use of 
their limbs, are models of symmetry. About that 
time they begin to fasten long garments about 
their hips, the effect of which is to impede their 
gait, and give them an awkward shamble. In 
course of time it does worse, and interrupts the 
development of their legs and thighs. Among 
the laboring class an additional misshapening is 
accomplished by the practice of carr3dng burdens, 
from an early age, upon the back, for the support 
of which broad straps are passed over the shoul- 
ders, and crossed in front, pressing directly upon 
the breasts. When a Japanese girl reaches the 
age of sixteen without having undergone either of 
these processes of deformity, she is a wonder to 
the eye, and remains so until twenty-five, or pos- 
sibly a little later ; then she ceases to charm, 
for a certain period, in any way excepting by her 
manner, and that is generally preserved to the 
last. But as she grows old, she has a chance of 
becoming quite delightful again. There is noth- 
hig nicer than a dignified and white-haired old 
Japanese lady. She is always happy, for she is 



22 Japanese Episodes, 

always much respected and cherished by her 
youngers ; and at a certain age the natural high- 
breeding of the race appears in her to attain its 
crystallization. Whatever her station in life, she 
is almost always sure to suggest an idea of ancient 
nobility, and to be surrounded by the atmosphere 
of an Oriental Faubourg St. Germain. 

My heroine's middle position in life, at once 
relieving her from heavy drudgery, and emanci- 
pating her from the perpetual constraint of fash- 
ionable dress, was thus favorable to her aspect, 
viewing her from our settled standpoint. I have 
no doubt, that, if her own secret convictions 
could have been detected, they would have been 
found unflattering, at least to the extent of be- 
lieving that her freedom from the pinched and 
contracted gait of the majority of her country- 
women was a disadvantage, and not a charm. 
Of course, we are all aware that no similar caprices 
of taste ever reveal themselves in the Western 
world. Koizumi's private griefs, however, if she 
had any on the subject, did not concern me. Her 
possible fancies could be overlooked so long as 
she herself remained so agreeable a fact. As to 
her countenance, it was of the best Japanese type, 
— that type which defies ethnologists, and out- 
faces the Mongolian theory with noiseless but con- 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 23 

vincing argument. Her complexion, though dark, 
was luminously clear ; eyes round and flashing in 
animation, drooping and "long-drawn out'' in 
quietude ; firm but sweet-tempered mouth, with 
teeth within, the thought of whose chance future 
blackening made one thrill with horror ; nose not 
too severe in regularity, and somewhat resolute 
chin ; dimples ad libitum^ by way of relief to any 
passing shade of sternness ; face of exact oval 
shape, set off by piquant little ears, the lobes of 
which did not detach themselves, as those of our 
race generally do, from the cheek ; the whole, of 
course, surmounted by a combination of the cap- 
illary fantasies of her nation, and presenting 
altogether such a picture as I hope, to put it with 
extreme mildness and moderation, I may live to 
see again. 

Having extracted in a short time a large amount 
of local information from my quick-tongued little 
hostess (she was as voluble as she was vivacious 
in all other respects) , I sauntered abroad to make 
practical use of it. But in this I was not alto- 
gether successful. The villagers overflowed with 
politeness, but were too much occupied with their 
usual avocations to go far out of their way to 
serve me. The children made the conventional 
pretence of timidity, and perhaps really felt it in 



24 Japanese Episodes. 

this cas<3, the sight of a foreigner being a remarka- 
ble, and to some of them an unprecedented, expe- 
rience. So I presently found my way back to the 
Fuku-ya, where I set about inquiring, with some 
impatience, when my Mountain Bird would return 
to his roost. Koizumi and her mother were very 
sorry, but he was not expected before the evening. 
As I showed signs of increasing dissatisfaction, 
I was requested to explain the particular duty I 
wished him to perform, as it might lie within their 
resources to supply a substitute. When I ex- 
plained that what I needed was a guide to all the 
notable places of the neighborhood, the household 
brightened visibly ; and Koizumi mere hastened to 
assure me, that, although there really were no 
notable places about Sakanoshita, yet the whole 
locality was as familiar to all of them as to Master 
Yamadori. Singly or collectively they were at my 
disposal. Stay, she would go herself. 

'•But, Oha-san (aunt}^)," I interfered, ''with 
your age and domestic responsibilities, I couldn't 
think of putting you to such inconvenience. 
Possibly some one of the young people, now " — 

" To be sure : there are Take wo and Amegawa, 
and then here is my daughter ; but she is a child, 
and might be troublesome." 

On reflection, I concluded that the child would 



Little Fountain of Sahanoshita, 25 

not be troublesome, — not oppressively trouble- 
some ; and after a brief delay for liini-gohan 
(the noon-meal) , we started forth, Koizumi en- 
raptured at the prospect of exhibiting the beauties 
of her home, and I at once contented and expec- 
tant. 

Undoubtedly she was a better pioneer than the 
Bird would have been ; not only more agreeable, 
but practicallj- better suited to my purpose. She 
was an enthusiast, full of sympathy, and, al- 
though she had always been a homekeeping maid, 
had any thing but homely wits. Suzuki Yama 
was the name of the mountain in the lap of which 
Sakanoshita ^ nestled ; and before nightfall we 
knew most of its open roads, and a few of its 
more secluded pathways. When Yamadori came 
in with high-pressure speed and spirits, a little 
after sunset, he heard with intense satisfaction 
of the temporary engagement into which his 
sweetheart had entered, and, without being con- 
sulted, approved its indefinite extension. He 
entered voluntarily into a commercial statement 
of the case. If he remained at home to pilot me 
about the country, he could expect no better 
reward than that which he might otherwise gain 
in his normal pursuit ; whereas the assumption 

1 Siika-no-sliita : ''Under the hillside," or " Beneath the slope." 



26 Japanese Episodes, 

of the charge by Koizumi would prove an addi- 
tional source of revenue, quite unlooked for, and 
tending to expedite connubial projects, the ful- 
filment of which was still undefined in the obscu- 
rity of the future. But, at this development of 
thrift, the matron became grave, and said that 
the honorable guest was entitled by every tra- 
dition of hospitality to the free command of all 
that she or hers could offer ; and Koizumi looked 
a little ashamed, and threw a reproachful glance 
at her swain, who, seeing that his speculative 
boldness had betrayed him into an indiscretion, 
went away, and hid himself for upwards of an 
hour. 

It was, however, subsequently settled that the 
young man should continue to exercise his call- 
ing, and that Little Fountain should complete 
the work she had commenced, of instructing me 
in the geography of her district. Three days 
were sufficient to enable me to proceed on my 
explorations alone, with no danger of getting 
lost ; and after that time I gave myself up to 
unrestrained mountain and forest revelry. It is 
a melancholy thing that words, at least such 
words as I can invoke, are so incompetent to re- 
produce the living beauty of this radiant Japan- 
ese scenery. There is nothing like it. I see no 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 27 

opportunity of even a suggestion by comparison. 
One charm is its endless and often abrupt variety ; 
another is its vivid and comprehensive clearness, 
due to the marvellous purity of the atmosphere. 
But what I find most winning of all is its quality 
of familiarness. No matter how infinite its 
wonders and glories, you may feel yourself on 
friendly terms with it from the first moment, and 
are never afterward repelled or dismayed by any 
sense of rigorous austerity. There is none of 
the cold severity which at times chills the gener- 
ous influences of Switzerland. The gloom of 
bleak or barren grandeur is very rare ; for the 
ruggedness of the mountain-tops is softened by 
verdure rising almost to the summits, — the deso- 
lation line being higher than in Europe or Ameri- 
ca. The character of the landscapes seems to 
be like that of the inhabitants. The valleys are 
always smiling to receive you, and the bamboo- 
crested hills are always nodding a welcome. I 
do not think it would be possible, for any length 
of time, to maintain perfectly easy relations with 
the Alps. Who would venture to take a liberty 
with Mont Blauc? But there is not a peak in 
all Japan with which you might not, at sight, 
exchange a good-natured jest, excepting, perhaps, 
Fuziyama, which, with all its feminine gentleness 



28 Japanese Episodes. 

of demeanor, has a reputation for solemn majesty 
and haughty supremacy to sustain, and frowns 
upon frivolity or license. 

Sakanoshita represents all that is most bewitch- 
ing in Japanese life. It has no startling acces- 
sories, like the torrents at Nikkuo, — one of which 
plunges from a lofty lake over a precipice one- 
seventh of a mile in height, — and is guarded by 
no Vulcan's giants, like those which hover about 
Hakone ; but it is crowded with natural fascina- 
tions, which, if not altogether so stately, are far 
more captivating. The people are Utopian; 
simple, affectionate, spirited, and ignorant rather 
than innocent of crime.^ It was a pleasant fie- 
tion with them to pretend that the presence of a 
stranger added a new interest and vitality to 
existence in the valley, and it was a pleasant fact 

I The chief magistrate was always eager to make me acquaintod 
with the details of his office. I asked one day to see the district 
jail. -We have no jail," he said dejectedly, and seemed quite 
downcast at the absence of an institution which might have afforded 
me a moment's interest. -But what do you do with the people 
who misbehave, who steal, for example ? " I asked. - :N-obody ever 
steals," he replied, with a longer face than before, as if it had oc 
curred to him for the first time that the existence of theft was an 
indispensable element in a finished state of society. What he said 
.^^s perfectly true, and to this day it is true throughout the interior 
of Japan. In the open ports, where foreign customs are gradually 
making their way, this accessory of Western progress is to some 
extent understood. 



Little Fountain of Sahanoshita. 29 

with me to take it all for granted. Day after day 
passed along, the calmness of life diversified only 
by an occasional impatient note from my friend 
in advance, who, with every artifice of persua- 
sion, endeavored to drag me forward. But I was 
too thoroughly at my ease to stir. Perfect con 
tentment, for one unbroken week, was the pre- 
vailing sentiment of the little circle in which I 
moved, — I lazily, the oba-san maternally, Yama- 
dori gallantly, and Koizumi coquettishly con- 
tented ; not a ripple on the surface of our satis- 
faction with ourselves and one another. 



30 Japanese Episodes. 



III. 



At the end of that period I fancied that I 
detected slight indications of change ; nothing 
ominous, certainly not menacing, but still note- 
worthy to an observer of the fluctuations of rustic 
temper. They first exhibited themselves in a 
reluctance, on the jin-riki-slia runner's part, to 
undertake long journeys from home ; unexpected 
returns at hours antedating those announced and 
agreed upon ; a tendency to superfluous personal 
finery, wholly at variance with the economic prin- 
ciples of the head of the hostelry ; and a fictitious 
exuberance of manner which contrasted disadvan- 
tageously with the previous accustomed sponta- 
neity. Koizumi's attention being called one day 
to these trifling phenomena, she assumed a droll 
expression, and withdrew to a corner conference 
with a cousin of her own sex and age ; in which 
interchange of soul giggling predominated. It 
did not appear to concern me at all, nor should I 
have attached any significance to Master Yama- 
dori's wavering moods, but for a circumstance 
that brought them directly under my attention. 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita, 31 

Near the yado-ya was a fine little river in which 
I was accustomed to amuse myself every after- 
noon, stray villagers sometimes looking on, with 
no particular purpose, from a bridge above. On 
one occasion Koizumi was among the spectators, 
and in the evening she greatly terrified me by 
proposing that I should teach her to swim. 

I assured her that it would be altogether too 
difficult ; that, in fact, it was impossible. 

She could not understand that at all. "You 
can swim better than anybody," she was pleased 
to say. 

" Undoubtedly," I answered. "But it is one 
thing to know how to swim, and another to know 
how to teach others to swim." 

Koizumi accused me of sophistry. 

"And moreover," I urged, "I do not speak 
Japanese well enough, as you ought to be aware." 

Koizumi politely intimated that that was ab- 
surd, and added that it was immaterial to her 
whether she acquired the art of natation upon the 
Japanese or English system. She had few anti- 
foreign prejudices. There were no edicts against 
adopting Western science to that extent, at least ; 
and mere bathing was not necessarily baptism. 

"Here is Yamadori," said I: "he will toach 
you by and by, after you are married." 



32 Japanese Episodes, 

She tossed her pretty head. '' When I want a 
thing, I want it immediately." 

" Well, he will teach you any time you like, 
then, I suppose." 

"Yes, certainly! "assented Yamadori with 
eagerness. " I will teach you immediately." 

'^That is nonsense, Yamadori. You do not 
know how to swim yourself." 

" Koizumi, it does not matter," he retorted. 
" I will learn to-morrow, or the next time I go to 
Kuwana. I will go on purpose." 

But destiny decreed that the young enthusiast 
should not see Kuwana on the following day, nor 
for many days to come. He started at an early 
hour, with a '' fare" for Kameyama, promising 
to return at three o'clock, by which I understood 
him to mean, from recent experience, a little after 
noon. On this occasion, however, he was better, 
or worse, than his word. I had been wandering 
in the afternoon with my pleasant companion, 
carefully avoiding all streams of suggestive mag- 
nitude, and came out toward sundown upon the 
main road, where, to the amazement of both of 
us, Yamadori presently appeared with a most 
dejected 'havior of the visage, entirely alone, 
dragging no wagon behind him.. 

'' Why, my lad, what is the matter? " 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita, 33 

''Where is the A:i^n(?7ia (vehicle) ? " said Koi- 
zumi, who, though on affection bent, had yet a 
frugal mind. 

Yamadori sat down in the middle of the To 
Kai Do, resting his weight upon his heels, which 
is the common attitude of Japanese repose, and 
began to cry. 

" Come," said I, '' this will not do. Koi'zumi, 
tell him to get up and speak.'' 

She responded by sitting down likewise in the 
middle of the To Kai Do, upon her heels, and 
crying in obligato. 

''Well," said I, much bewildered, "if there 
were only one of you going crazy, I might be 
successful in consoling. Under the cu-cumstances 
I shall leave you to console each other. ' ' 

This was because I felt convinced that some- 
thing really serious must have happened, according 
to their measurement of seriousness, and that I 
should be doing them the best favor by ostensibly 
making light of the mysterious catastrophe, and 
giving them an opportunity for comforting com- 
munion. At the same time it made me very 
uneasy to see my favorites overcome by such an 
unusual excess of emotion. Except through the 
imagination, a Japanese is not easily moved to a 
display of grief. He will mourn over the sorrows 



34 Japanese Episodes. 

of a h-ero of romance, and utterly dissolve before 
theatrical representations of human woe ; but in 
the affairs of his own life he is apt to be a stoic. 

I went back to the inn alone, and sat in the 
gateway, waiting for the return of the young 
couple. It was not long before they re-appeared, 
but they did not immediately enter the house. 
After a little low conversation outside, Koizumi 
turned and came indoors alone ; while Yamadori 
moved on toward the upper end of the village. 

" Well, my child," said I, as she passed me, 
'' if you can tell me what the matter is, pray do. 
Tell me whenever you like." 

She looked anxiously at me, paused a moment, 
then shook her head, and went in out of sight. 

Presently she re- appeared, and knelt down very 
submissively, — which, I should say, is a form of 
courtesy, and not of humiliation, — and said she 
hoped I would excuse her if she had been rude ; 
but her heart was very heavy. 

' ' Poor Little Fountain 1 ' ' said I. ' ' But, if you 
do not tell me what it is, how can I help 3'Ou? " 

" So I would willingly, and I wish to," she 
replied ; '' but Yamadori sa3^s I must not." 

Of course, the instant I heard this, I became 
abnormally eager to know, and determined to use 
every effort to that end : so I hinted with sarcas- 



Little Fountain of SakanosMta, 35 

tic bitterness, that, oh ! if she thought I was not 
her friend, and if Yamadori was disposed to fore- 
stall his matrimonial authority to the extent of 
shutting her out from the sympathy of the world, 
and she was content to suffer such tyranny, there 
was nothing more to say, and I would go and 
pack m}^ portmanteau at once; which was about 
as cruel a thing as I ever did in my life, and for 
which I was punished, as soon as I saw the piteous 
expression of her face, by a conviction of mean- 
ness that made me long to inflict upon myself the 
Japanese penalty to which Yamadori had been 
driven on the second night of my sojourn, and 
withdraw to inaccessible solitudes. 

She looked at me intently for an instant, and 
then with a sigh said that I misunderstood her 
and also misunderstood him. But she could tell 
me a part of the misfortune ; in fact, all about 
that. There was only a small something con- 
nected with it which she was forbidden to divulge. 
And then the worst of it came out. In hurrying 
to get back to Sakanoshita before his time, Yama- 
dori had run too rapidly around a dangerous 
corner, had upset his jin-riki-sha over a rocky 
ledge, and broken it to irremediable smash. 

'^ Is that all? " I asked composedly. 

' ' All ! ' ' she cried ; and her eyes actually opened 



36 Japanese Episodes. 

to that extent that they became oval in the wrong 
dkection, that is, perpendicularly, — '^ all ! Is it 
not enough ? ' ' 

' ' But he was not hurt ? ' ' 

'' Hurt? No : he is not the man to cry because 
he is hurt. But the jin'Tiki-sha.'^ 

'^ Ah ! There was a passenger? " 

'' I do not know. I believe so. I forget." 

" And was he hurt? " 

' ' How should I know ? It is the jin-riM-slia 
that we are thinking of. Almost new ; it cost 
fifteen riyos at the beginning of the fifth month." 

''I see," said I, endeavoring to enter into her 
view of the subject. ''And he cannot buy an- 
other." 

''Buy another? Oya^ oya! How could he 
ever buy one ? Did you think it was his ? Oh, 
no, sir ! Yamadori is very poor : he has never had 
fifteen riyos in his life, — not all at once. All the 
jin-riki-shas in Sakanoshita belong to the merchant 
Sakurai, the wealthiest man of our town, the 
iianushi, Yamadori has gone now to tell him. 
What shall we do?" 

Gradually it dawned upon me that in a seques- 
tered little community like this, where trade had 
hardly ever been known, where husbandmen wrung 
their subsistence from the soil with ceaseless labor, 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 37 

and where industry was of necessity so slightly 
rewarded that the daily wages of the most assidu- 
ous toiler could not exceed half a hu^ or about 
twelve cents, an accident like this which had 
befallen the lad might be nothing less than a 
calamity. As I was turning this new phase of 
the business in my mind, and trying to fix upon 
some appropriate observation, I remarked casually 
and indifferently, and with no definite purpose of 
any kind, ''What on earth made him run so 
fast?" 

''Ah!" said Koizumi, shrinking back, "that 
is what I am not to tell you." 

It is extraordinary how a habit of despotism 
will grow upon us. I had been exercising unlim- 
ited sway over this establishment for several days, 
to my own complete satisfaction, and apparently 
to that of the inmates. Having been monarch 
of all I surveyed, I resented the idea that there 
should be any my right to dispute. So, although 
it is not exactly pleasant to confess it, I drew into 
my shell again. I made no further allusion to 
portmanteaus, not having the pluck to risk a 
second reproachful gaze from those great sorrow- 
ful eyes ; but I said with considerable asperity 
of tone, " Why, Koizumi, will you not tell me? " 

" I cannot. He would be angry." 



38 Japanese Episodes. 

''Who, Master Yamadori? I should like to 
see him angry with me ! ' ' 

"No, no; not with you, but with me. He 
would only be ashamed with you." 

'' Why should he be ashamed, then? " 

'' But that is what I must not say." 

"Listen to me, Koizumi. I really want to 
know." 

"Truly I cannot." 

" Listen to me, I say " — 

" I will ask him, and if he permits me " — 

"If you will not listen to me, there is an end 
to every thing. Never mind about asking him. 
Tell me all about it before he returns, because I 
want to think of some plan by which you shall 
be able to make it all right for him without any 
delay." 

"It is very kind; and I thank you. But I 
cannot. ' ' 

"As you please," said I in dudgeon, and 
walked out of the gate, and began to climb the 
hill. I suppose I was firmly convinced, at the 
time, that my urgency was solely in my little 
friend's interest, and that I alone was aggrieved 
by her dauntlessness, while she suffered nothing 
from my persistence. 

The nanushi lived at the upper end of the 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 39 

village ; and, as I drew near his house, Yamadori 
issued forth, still in deep discomfiture. He looked 
shyly at me, and seemed disposed to avoid my 
side of the road. Being still huffily inclined, I 
made no effort to check his homeward progress. 
Influenced by a new idea, however, I walked 
straight to the nanusJii's door, and, summoning 
a servant, sent in a message requesting an inter- 
view. In an instant the worthy elder was on the 
threshold, profusely hospitable and polite, and 
proposing tea and biscuit with an eagerness that 
would not be denied. This exactly suited my 
sudden purpose. A moment later I was seated in 
the midst of his abundant family, exchanging 
broadsides of compliment with the entire group. 
After this inevitable prelude, I proceeded to 
the object of my call. The naiiusM was good 
enough to give me the freest information con- 
cerning the matter in hand. The jin'TikUsha 
business was not without its hazards, as Yama- 
dori' s mishap had proved. An operator, even 
upon so humble a scale as his own, ran serious 
risks. By careful management he had accumu- 
lated four of these costly vehicles during the 
past six months ; and now one of them, the most 
recent of the lot, had been sacrificed. Of course 
it was not the boy's fault ; he knew that, and 



40 Japanese Episodes, 

was not disposed to be hard upon him ; but what 
could he do? One-fourth of his wheeled capital 
destroyed by carelessness : at least he supposed 
it must be carelessness, for he could not get any 
satisfactory explanation of the cause of Yama- 
dori's excessive haste. Yes, he had kagos — a 
dozen of them ; but kagos were used now only 
for crossing the mountain toward Lake Biwa. 
Nobody would think of using them on level 
ground in this age of progress. It would cost him 
two months' profits to get another kuruma^ for 
people were mistaken in supposing him to be a 
man of superfluous means : he was only prosper- 
ous according to a village standard. And, even 
when he should get one, could he venture to con- 
fide it to a^ young man who had that day shown 
himself unworthy of so grave a responsibility ? 

I asked if Yamadori had ever before been found 
wanting. 

"That he has not," interposed a brisk young 
lady of twenty, who sat in a corner. ' ' He is the 
best boy in the province." 

"My daughter is forward," said the nanushi; 
" but, making certain allowances, she is just. 
Yamadori has hitherto been above reproach." 

"And he is very popular and swift," added 
the young girl, " and brings in as much money 
as any two of the others." 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 41 

" I was about to say so," remarked her father, 
' ' in language not less convincing, though possi- 
bly less violent." 

''I should think then, Master NanusM^ that 
you might venture to stand by him again." 

' ' Since the gentleman is good enough to be 
interested in him, I would willingly do so ; but I 
cannot afford to purchase another jin'riki- ska with- 
in less than two months, and certainly I cannot 
dismiss one of my men who has done no wrong, 
to accommodate another who at least has been 
awkward and unskilful." 

" Meanwhile he may starve," said the impetu- 
ous advocate in the corner. 

"Nobody starves in Sakanoshita!" said the 
nanushi severely. '' Such a thing would be a 
sorrow to the people : it has never been heard of, 
and never will be." 

I began to fear that the energetic young lady 
would injure my cause, but felt grateful neverthe- 
less for her support. '' Can nothing be done? " 
I asked, after a minute's pause. 

"I might put him upon a A^a^o," said the old 
man, reflectively. 

''A kago^ and give him a hump ! " exclaimed 
the daughter. 

" A hump on the shoulder is better than empti- 



42 Japanese Episodes. 

ness in the belly," said the worthy magistrate: 
'"- 1 can do no better. I wish I could ; for I like 
the lad, as everybody does." 

'' I am obliged to you. Master Nanushi^ and es- 
pecially obliged to your amiable daughter. Yam- 
adori will be pleased to learn tliat he has had so 
charming and effective an advocate." 

The young lady came forward to the light, and 
revealed a countenance the gratification in which 
was unmistakable. I was pleased at having pro- 
duced an agreeable effect, and determined to 
improve it. ''And Koizumi, too, will be very 
thankful," I added. But this, alas! was a fail- 
ure, an unquestionable anti-climax. The young 
lady's face grew as long as one of her own sleeves, 
and her brow as dark as the obscurity from which 
she had emerged. " I suppose the kagos are too 
good for- him, after all," she remarked, and 
turned away pettishly. In taking the last extra 
step I had clearly put my foot in it. Nothing, 
however, could be gained by prolonging the con- 
versation ; and, observing that I was glad to have 
the nanusliVs promise, I formally withdrew, won 
dering a little, but not much, at the daughter 'fc. 
variable temper. 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 43 



IV. 



They keep early hours in Sakanoshita. I saw 
nobody but a servant when I returned to the 
Fuku-ya, and heard nothing of the absorbing 
topic until next morning, when, as I was dressing, 
Yamadori presented himself, and begged to know 
if 1 could listen to him for a few minutes. I 
told him I should be very glad ; and he came in, 
but was even more embarrassed than he had pre- 
viously appeared. After several false starts, he 
began, with many halts and hitches, to say that 
Koizumi had told him I wished to know the reason 
of his ruinous haste the day before ; and that, 
though suffering from profound mortification, he 
was prepared to inform me. I instantly became 
unreasonable and autocratic again. ''I do not 
wish to hear it," said I, ''except from Koizumi 
herself : she offended me by refusing to tell me 
yesterday, and I cannot suffer any such evasion 
as this." To my surprise, the lad seemed much 
relieved, and went hastily away to report my 
determination. 

I did not see the little delinquent, as I chose 



44 Japanese Episodes. 

to stigmatize her, for an hour or more. At last 
she came, looking prettily penitent, and declared 
herself ready to submit to my commands in all 
things. Whereupon, like most despots under 
similar circumstances, I became extremely gra- 
cious, called for tea and jelly, and invited her to 
be as confidential as she pleased. 

" Now that Yamadori has consented," she 
began, "I am ready enough. But it is a very 
little thing. He would much rather have me tell 
than be obliged to do it himself. You may laugh 
at him ; but I hope you will not be angry. ' ' 

''Very good, Koizumi: for your sake I will 
not be angry." 

''And, after all, I am the one that is really to 
blame." 

"As to that, Koizumi, we shall see." 

' ' The truth is " — (Giggle. ) 

"Well?" 

" He was hurrying home " — (Many giggles.) 

"Goon." 

' ' Because he was afraid you would be teaching 
me to swim." (Countless giggles.) 

"Bless us!" 

" Yes. And what is more, he is " — 

"What?" 

" Jealous, and has been for several days." 



Little Fountain of Sakanosliita, 45 

'' Koizumi, this is very dreadful." 

"Is it, indeed? I know little about such 
things. But I hope you are not angry." 

'^ No, Koizumi, I am not, — that is, not exactly 
angry, — certainly not with you, nor yet with 
Yamadori. But, — on the whole, you are a good 
and faithful little girl. I have a great regard for 
you. Your obedience to your betrothed is ex- 
tremely praiseworthy. I should have liked it just 
as well if you had not told me at all." 

'' But, dear sir, you insisted." 

''So I did. And what is to be done now, I 
wonder ? ' ' 

" Well, there is something else to be said, and 
this is indeed difficult. The other was nothing — 
it was only Yamadori' s fancy ; but now, truly, I 
am almost in despair." 

"Koizumi," said I, "it does not appear that 
the result of my endeavors to force you to betray 
confidence has been eminently happy. If your 
betrothed has again forbidden you ' ' — 

" Yes, he has forbidden me." 

" Then say no more. I excuse you."- 

" He has forbidden me, but that is nothing." 

"You amaze me. How can it be nothing to- 
day, when yesterday it was every thing? " 

"Gentle sir, it is wholly a different matter. 



46 Japanese episodes. 

To begin with, a great deal of time has passed 
since yesterday. Next, Yamadori then forbade 
me on his own account ; he thought you would 
never forgive him ; whereas now he forbids me 
on my own account, because it is entirely my own - 
affair. Finall3^ if I can get courage to speak a.t 
all, I do not propose to trouble myself about 
Yamadori's permission." 

The rural simplicity of Sakanoshita maidenhood 
was evidently getting beyond m}^ sphere of com- 
prehension. I prudently said nothing. 

"You know, sir," said Koizumi, — and there 
could be no doubt about the sincerity of her 
anxiety this time, — ''that the nanusJd is very 
rich. I must tell you, also, that he has an itch- 
ing palm.^ He is doubtless irritated at the loss 
of his property, and Yamadori is sure to be dis- 
missed from his employment. But the nanuslii 
has a great respect for treasure and station. Now, 
I have had a thought, that if a noble officer in 
the service of the government, and one of such 
wealth that figures cannot measure it, would con- 
sent to intercede for him, the stern magistrate 
and merchant would be merciful. O dear sir ! 

1 Lest any should suspect me of embellishing the vernacular, let 
me observe that " an itching palm " is a common Japanese figure of 
speech; not the only one, by scores, that is identical with familiar 
idioms of Western tongues. 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 47 

pray do this for poor Yamadori, and forgive the 
presumption of the rude girl who trembles while 
she asks it." 

"Little Fountain," said I, ''you are a good 
girl. I said so before, and I see no reason to 
alter my judgment. But I understand that rank 
and riches are needed to exercise the influence 
you speak of. Now, the truth is, that I have 
neither." 

" O sir ! Yamadori told me " — 

'' That I had one thousand riyos a month. I 
know he did ; but it is not true. He is a fine 
romancer. Here, I will show you my passport ; 
you shall know all about it." ^ 

"It is not necessary, since you tell me so. 
But what does it matter? Yamadori has told 
everybody the same, and the whole village thinks 
it is true." 

It appeared, then, that I was not to attribute 
my influence with the nanusM wholly to my power 
of personal persuasion. Perhaps it was all the 
better: any way, I could offer some reparation 

^ For what earthly purpose they do it I cannot saj^ ; but, in grant- 
ing travelling passports to an employee, the officers of the government 
insist upon introducing all possible particulars of his private life, — 
his age, birthplace, occupation, and even the exact amount of his 
salary. Yamadori had heard this sum named at some of the stations 
where my permit had been examined, and, for reasons before men- 
tioned, had magniiied it out of all reason. 



48 Japanese Episodes, 

for my baa treatment of the young girl, if that 
were really all she wanted of me. 

"And this is all, Koizumi, that you have to 
ask?" 

" That is all : I am only afraid it is too much." ^ 

" You are quite sure there is nothing else you 
wish me to do ? " 

' ' Why, what else can there be ? " she asked 
with genuine perplexity. 

''What else, to be sure?" said I, dismissing 
my suspicions. " Very good, my dear : you may 
set your mind at rest." 

''You will do it?" 

' ' I have done it. I saw the nanuslii last night. ' ^ 

The grateful little thing tried to laugh, and not 
to cry, and failed in both efforts. "O Yama- 
dori ! " she scro^^med, " come here and thank the 
gentleman, for I have no words to do it." 

Yamadori was not far distant, —not beyond her 
call. He came slowly and sheepishly, and, in 
consequence of an hysterical incoherence into 
which his sweetheart immediately fell, remained 
insensible for a while to the brightened prospect 
of his situation. When at last it broke upon 
him, he was much moved, but only said, " I am 
sure that the gentleman would not have done this 
for me if he had not forgiven me for my folly." 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 49 

" And me for mine," said Koizumi. 

As it was distinctly obvious that the girl had 
done nothing but exactly what was best all through, 
this seemed an illogical proposition. But she was 
determined to be pardoned jointly with her swain, 
and laid so much stress upon it, that there was no 
escape, and I was compelled to pronounce a sol- 
emn absolution in the approved style of the ancient 
and honorable English comedies. 

For the remainder of the morning I abandoned 
myself to re very. A few additional words had 
shown me that Yamadori was ready enough to 
accept the inferior occupation of Zra^o-bearer ; 
though Koizumi, like the magistrate's daughter, 
was troubled about his shoulders, and promised 
to make him a nice soft pad. I began to ask 
myself the question why — although I was not a 
high officer with one thousand monthly riyos — 
I could not go out of my way to practically smooth 
the difficult course of this village love. I certainly 
felt deeply interested in the young people. But, 
if that circumstance were to stand as sufficient 
justification, there would be nothing to hinder me 
from going about, and proffering material assist- 
ance to thirty-three millions of people, that being 
the aggregate population of Japan according to 
the last government census. It is rather a peril- 



50 Japanese Episodes. 

ous precedent, to give way to one's impulses of 
profusion in this country, the temptations are so 
frequent and powerful. For nearly two hours I 
reflected, and then announced a journey. Two 
of the nanushVs ablest jln-riJii-sha men should 
that afternoon convey me to Kame^^ama, fifteen 
miles distant, where I could pass the night, and 
return the next day at my convenience. 

This was sufficient to constitute an event in our 
circle ; and you may be sure that I threw as much 
mystery about it as I could, expressly to heighten 
expectation. I admitted that 1 had a project, and 
an important one, but declared that nobody should 
know what it was, or whom it concerned, until my 
own time of disclosure. Yamadori regretted that 
he should not have the privilege of assisting in 
drawino; me ; and Koizumi be2:2:ed me not to 
remain too long away, lest the nanusM should 
extricate himself from the spell of my influence, 
and retract his promises. I played Alexander, 
affected to nod, and intimated, that, as I had taken 
the affairs of the universe under my control, no 
person need concern himself as to the results. 
That night I slept at Kameyama. 

The next morning, having paid my runners, and 
notified them that they need not wait to take me 
back, I visited the quarter of the carpenters and 



Little Fountain of Sahanoshita. 51 

wagon-manufacturers. This town is not without 
a reputation for the neat and substantial vehicles 
it produces ; and, after a little search, I found a 
capital diOwhlQ jin-riki-slia^ — firm, compact, not 
too heavy, and refulgent with red lacquer. Half 
an hour of tolerably tough bargaining put it in my 
possession at a reasonable sum. Long before noon 
I was on my way to the mountains again, this 
time propelled by strangers. Our arrival in front 
of the Fuku-ya created a sensation. Yamadori 
was up on the hill, at the kago depot ; but he soon 
came running down to learn the cause of my 
strange action in sending home the other kiiruma 
without an occupant. 

" We were afraid you meant to remain away a 
long time," said Little Fountain. 

'' Some of us thought you were dissatisfied with 
the way in which the jin-rlki-sha was managed," 
said Yamadori. 

" The jin-riki'Slia was well enough pulled, al- 
though your hand was wanting, my lad. But the 
weather was warm and uncomfortable, and I fan- 
cied a larger one to come home in : so you see ' ' — 

" Truly, that is a majestic piece of work," he 
replied, inspecting the new vehicle with tlie appre- 
ciative eye of a connoisseur. 
' Do you like it? " said I. 



52 Japanese Episodes. 

He examined it closely before answering. '' I 
have conceived a better one," he finally remarked ; 
''but I never saw one so good. Perhaps there 
are none finer in Tokio ? " he added inquiringly. 

"I am glad you like it," said I; ''for it is 
yours, Yamadori." And I precipitately retired 
from mortal view, in imitation of a certain effect 
I had often admired in melodramas. 

For several minutes I was allowed to be alone. 
Then the daughter of the house peeped into my 
room, and regarded me silently with an expression 
that confused me not a little. 

"Come," I exclaimed, "say something, you 
stupid girl!" 

' ' I understand well that the gentleman does not 
wish to hear too many thanks," she answered; 
" and I could not talk about any thing else. Koi- 
zumi's heart is very full." 

"Nonsense, you silly child! and all about a 
two-wheeled cart. What does your sweetheart 
say?" 

" Oh ! Yamadori — he is crazy with delight and 
fear." 

"Why with fear?" 

' ' He thinks that the nanusM may make a claim 
on the kunima, or its earnings, in return for thai 
which he lost." 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita. 53 

'' I do not think that will be possible, unless it 
was in his agreement that he should make good 
all accidental losses. But it can be easily ar- 
ranged. I can give the new jin-ri]d'Sha to you, 
my dear ; and you, I suppose, will not refuse to 
lend it to him, if he behaves himself." 

So that little business was comfortably settled ; 
the nanuslii^ moreover, declaring that nothing 
would be further from his designs than to interfere 
harshly with the young man's unexpected pros- 
perity ; only, as he had shown himself generously 
disposed when his good-will had seemed impor- 
tant, he thought that Yamadori ought to take a 
new proposal from him into favorable considera- 
tion ; and this was nothing more nor less than 
that, instead of attempting an injudicious rivalry 
in so small a field, they should unite their capital, 
and form a kuruma partnership, Yamadori's 
acquisition, together with his strength and agility, 
to entitle him to two-fifths of the profits of the 
business, and he to pay three-fifths of the cost of 
the next jin-riki-slia purchased on joint account. 
I thought so too, and said to Koizumi that I 
imagined her view of the old gentleman's char- 
acter had been hasty, and that, if his palm itched 
at all, it was to perform deeds of benevolence, and 
nothing more. But she did not take very kindly 



54 Japanese Episodes. 

to the alliance, though she would not oppose it. 
As to Yamaclori, he thought it was the most 
superb opening that could be dreamed of. The 
affair, I considered, was virtually accomplished, 
and, precisely as it had been a week before, bea- 
titude seemed to reign universal and supreme. 



1 



Little Fountam of Sakanoshita, 65 



We know wliat often happens to the best laid 
schemes of all animals, low and high. In less 
than forty-eight hours, portentous signs began to 
manifest themselves, this time from a novel 
quarter, which presently assumed a highly omi- 
nous form. It was no other than Koizumi who 
now departed from the even current of her usual 
placidity. She ceased to smile, was petulant 
without apparent cause, and once or twice was 
bitter in repartee. In consequence of which it 
became proper for me to interfere again. 

"Koizumi, come hither: 3"0u are in new 
trouble." 

''I? Not at all. I care nothing, however 
much he may misbehave." 

'^ So, Yamadori is in mischief once more. Tell 
me, is he jealous still? " 

" Sir, he was never jealous. It was a decep- 
tion. How could he be jealous when he has 
cared nothing for me all the while? " 

It was more and more evident that I must have 
a finger in the pie. '' I am determined that you 



66 Japanese Episodes. 

children shall not make yourselves miserable," I 
declared. '' Let me know at once what has hap- 
pened." 

''In this case, sir," she said, sitting down 
beside me, '' there is no remedy. Yamadori has 
deserted me." 

''Deserted you? Impossible. He was here 
this morning." 

"Oh! he continues to come; but he has 
deserted me, all the same. We have quarrelled 
desperately." 

"It must be a capital sight to see you try to 
quarrel, Koizumi." 

"I can do it if I wish. I have called him 
such names ! — but nothing like what he deserves. 
If you would only teach me how to talk to him 
in English." 

" To swear at him, I suppose you mean." 
. " To swear at him, yes." ^ 

"Koizumi, I will undertake that task, if it is 
really necessary. Now, explain every thing." 

Gradually I made myself master of the facts. 
They did not look well for Yamadori. He had 
shown himself fickle. Either his heart was not 

1 It is impossible to be profaDe in Japanese. The language con- 
tains nothing in the way of violence. The strongest terms of objur- 
gation are "fool" and ** beast;" and they are very rarely heard, 
except from the lips of foreigners. 



Little Fountain of SakanosJdta, 57 

constant, or the new jin-riM'Sha had got into his 
head. I found that the iianushVs daughter, who 
had interested herself so warmly in his behalf, 
had for a long time been suspected of a hidden 
partiality for him, which it would have been hope- 
less to openly display ; but that, since the young 
man had suddenly become a capitalist, she had 
felt free to hang out signals that could not be 
mistaken by the slowest of perceptions. The 
father had not shown himself averse, and Yama- 
dori was rapidly giving way to the flattering influ- 
ence. My little girl was quite convinced that 
her lover was as good as lost. 

'^ This is incredible," said I, "it is monstrous. 
I have seen her. She is not nearly so pretty as 
you, and I am sm*e she cannot be so accom- 
plished." 

/'It may be so, sir ; but I think that you for- 
eigners place more value upon good looks than 
we do. Nobody ever said much about mine 
before you came here ; and accomplishments go 
for little when they are not joined to wealth." 

"But you, Koizumi, should be a person of 
distinction. You are the daughter of the first 
yado-ya in Sakanoshita, and you will one day 
be the mistress of it. That is a position. Why, 
the nanusliVs house is not half so large as yours." 



58 Japanese Episodes. 

''That is nothing, now. I have heard that 
when the great daimios used to pass through, in 
former years, we were well to do. I can just 
remember those days. We had twenty servants 
then. It is very different now, as any one may 
see.'' 

'' He is blind, he is an idiot." 

''No, he is not an idiot; but he is date-sha^ 
and his vanity is the strongest part of him. He 
cannot resist the temptation to make himself the 
first man of the village." 

" I will speak to him, directly." 

"That would never do. I am very fond of 
him ; but I could not be happy if he were forced 
to return to me against his will. No, sir, you 
are very kind, and I am wretched ; but you must 
not try to help me in this." 

" What is to be done, then? " 

" I will think about it all the afternoon. I 
will go to Inari-sama,^ and perhaps something 
will come to me." 

Koizumi's complaint was easily verified, and 
that without any direct questioning. Strolling 
forth, I found the inconstant at the jin-riki-sha 
house, inspecting the stock, oiling, polishing, and 

1 Inari-saraa is tbe fox deity, whose temples are in high esteem 
among young lovers. 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita, 59 

repairing here and there, and chatting at intervals 
with his aged partner's daughter, who was con- 
tinually '' happening in " from the dwelling-house, 
on the most transparently fictitious errands. The 
minx had actually the effrontery to thank me for 
my present to Yamadori, who heard her without 
being abashed in the smallest degree ; at which, 
fearing to derange Koizumi's plans — if she should 
form any — by a premature explosion, I walked 
away in silent indignation. 

Eeturning to the inn, I found the maiden I had 
left forlorn in the hands of the barber, who was 
erecting a marvellous structure upon her head. 
She had a samisen on her knee, and was practising 
jubilant melodies. Here was a new surprise. 
Had the wind changed again ? 

'^ I have an idea," whispered Koizumi, getting 
up, and following me. " Inari-sama has inspired 
me. I hope it will do ; and I am sure it will, if 
you will help me." 

'.' I will do any thing you like." 

" Mountains of thanks. Yamadori will be here 
this evening, as usual ; or, if he is not, I shall send 
for him. I shall have many things to say to him, 
most of which will not be true ; but that makes 
little difference." 

'' The end justifies the means," said I. 



60 Japanese Episodes, 

"I don't understand that," said Koizumi; 
'' but I shall tell a great many fibs, all of which 
came to me this afternoon at the temple. What I 
wish to ask is, that you will not contradict any 
thing I may say." 

u Very good. I will contradict nothing." 
' ' And you will support me if necessary ? ' ' 
" Ah ! that is serious ; and I am in the dark." 
"Oh, there shall be no harm! Inari-sama is 
responsible." And she laughed merrily, as if con- 
fident, in anticipation, of success. 

'* I suppose I must trust Inari-sama for the sake 
of his disciple," said I. 

" My mother approves, and will also assist 
me." 

" Good. You make me very curious." 
'* By and by, sir, you shall see and hear every 
thing. To tell you now would spoil all." 

At seven o'clock in the evening I was requested 
to visit that part of the house in which the head 
of the family resided, where I found a considera- 
ble gathering of neighbors, seated in a hollow 
square, with little boxes of refreshments before 
them. They bent forward to salute me as I en- 
tered, and then silently resumed their tea and 
pipes. This was obviously a ceremonial re-union 
of some significance. For a moment I thought 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita, 61 

that a reconciliation had taken place, and that I 
had been summoned to assist at the nuptial party. 
But the fact that Yamadori was not present in- 
validated this conjecture. Inasmuch as I knew 
nothing, and yet was expected, according to Koi- 
zumi, to appear to know every thing, I maintained 
a discreet silence. An elderly lady volunteered a 
recitative, and a younger one vouchsafed a dance ; 
at the end of which the truant stalked in, not 
a little overcome by the unaccustomed brilliancy 
of the scene. He understood it more readily 
than I. 

'' Why, this is a farewell," he said. '' Who is 
going away ? ' ' And, answering himself, ' ' It must 
be the noble gentleman. Truly this is a sorrow 
to Sakanoshita." 

Koizumi, who was tightening the strings of a 
samisen as he entered, here interrupted him with 
a merry song, then popular all over Japan, the 
refrain of which was ' ' Jin-riki-sha abiinai ' ' 
('ware jin-riki-sha) ^ in the selection of which I 
detected mischief. Having finished, she turned 
to fYamadori, and said in her most musical tones, 
"Yes, we are going, and within two days. We 
are very glad 3^ou have come." 

" ' We ' ! Domo, domo I May I ask wlio are 
'we'?" 



62 Japanese Episodes. 

"The danna-san and myself," said Koizumi, 
gayly and unblushingly. 

Yamadori let fall an exclamation of astonish- 
ment in ten syllables, while I rose to remonstrate. 
But a quick glance from the principal actress in 
the comedy reminded me that I had pledged my- 
self to acquiescence in all that she might aver. 
Certainly I had not bargained for this sort of 
thing ; but I was bound not to hazard the success 
of my heroine's plot, whatever it might be, to 
say nothing of the personal interest I felt in its 
development. 

" The gentleman has decided to increase the 
number of his servants at Tokio, which his mag- 
nificent income of one thousand rii/os a month 
enables him to do without limit. He is so good 
as to say that nobody else in the empire can put 
on buttons or repair his wardrobe as well as I can. 
Therefore we proceed at once to Kioto, stopping 
one day at Lake Biwa in order that he may teach 
me to swim." 

' ' Is this really true ? ' ' faltered Yamadori. 

'' Sayo de gozarimasu^'' corroborated the assem- 
blage. 

"And is your mother going with you? " 

"Foolish boy! AYho would take care of the 
yado-yaf Besides which, she has no desire to 



Little Fountain of SahanosTiita. 63 

travel, and is too old to learn to swim. Sit down, 
Yamadori." 

He collapsed in a daze, looked stupidly around, 
and sighed heavily. 

"You ought to be very glad," said an old 
gossip : ''it will be a great relief to you." 

Yamadori looked fiercely at her, said nothing, 
but swallowed cups of hot tea with rapidity. 

"And now, Yamadori," continued the young 
girl, with such singular sweetness that I made 
sure a coup de grace was coming, ' ' we shall be 
sorry to incommode you ; but I shall naturally 
require my jin-riki-sha. If you will bring it to- 
morrow, I shall be obliged." 

' ' Your jin-Tiki-sha ^ ' ' 

"Yes, the new one." 

Yamadori started to his feet. "Why, it is 
mine!" he exclaimed. "I am going to add it 
to the nanusliVs lot, and we are to do business 
together." 

" Oh, no, my friend ! " said Koizumi in softer 
and more melodious accents than I had ever heard 
from her lips. " It is mine, and was given to me. 
I only promised to lend it to you when I found it 
convenient. My generous benefactor and master 
remembers." 

"To be sure I remember," said I, glad to be 



64 Japanese Episodes. 

able to support her truthfully in one state- 
ment. 

Yamaclori stood motionless and very pale for a 
moment. ''I hare been a brute," at last he 
murmured : ' ' now I am properly rewarded. ' ' And 
he turned away trembling, and departed without 
saying good-night. 

Then came Koizumi's hardest trial. She was 
obliged to remain hours later, and keep up the 
semblance of festivity, for the numerous guests 
had no conception of the unreality of the scene 
in which they were taking part. She had confided 
in nobody but her mother. 

After it was all over, she came, wearily and 
timidly, and asked if I thought it would succeed. 

"If it does not, young woman," said I, " you 
have put me into a pretty position. You may 
well say that you got the idea from Inari. You 
are a fox yourself." 

"Of course, sir, I have taken a great liberty. 
But trul}^ I was desperate : I am so fond of him ! 
I was convinced you would not consent if I told 
j'ou my plan beforehand, and so " — 

" You played Inari with me." 

"Forgive me." 

" Oh ! I don't care, if it does not fail." 

"It will not fail : it has succeeded already." 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita, 66 

" How can you know that? " 

'' Inari tells me so." 

It did not take long, the following morning, 
for us to arrange the closing act of the drama. 
Yamadori came about ten o'clock, and deposited 
the vehicle which had been his delusion and de- 
struction before the gate. His expression was 
not one of penitence : he seemed to have fallen 
beyond that, into complete hopelessness. But it 
was not my cue to relieve him too suddenly. 

" Your j I n-riki-sha is here, Koizumi," he said. 
' ' You will find it no worse than when I took it. 
I should have brought it earlier ; but I had to 
look at the springs, and oil the wheels, and put 
on a new nut at this side." 

" That is very thoughtful of you," said I. 

He saluted me gravely, but made me no an- 
swer. 

"I hear you are going to-morrow," he re- 
sumed, turning to Koizumi. 

''I believe so," she answered. ''The kami- 
san (lady of the house) will be happy to see you 
whenever you choose to come ; but I suppose you 
will amuse yourself best with your friends at the 
ncmicshi's.'' 

"1 do not think the nanusJd would receive me 
now ; and, if he would, I should not go there. 



66 Japanese Episodes, 

Nobody in Sakanoshita will ever see me after 
you depart." 

''What do you mean, Yamadori? and where 
will you go? " 

" It does not matter, and I do not know ; but 
I cannot stay in this place." 

" Yamadori, I hope you do not thinly I have 
treated you ill." 

''You, Koizumi ! you have never shown me any 
thing but kindness." 

"Look here, my lad," I put in, "since j^ou 
are going to quit this place, why not come along 
with us? or, if you wish, you can take any road 
you like best, and meet us at the Eastern Capital. 
My house is large enough, and I am always get- 
ting new servants." 

' ' I see that the gentleman is always getting 
new servants," said Yamadori, still overlooking 
me, and addressing Koizumi; "though, by the 
by, I told you a falsehood when I said his income 
was a thousand riyos. Never mind. He is very 
good, but I cannot go with him to Tokio." 

" Come, Yamadori," said I, relenting a little 
before the stipulated time (for, although he had 
undoubtedly behaved badly, he was suffering tor- 
ments for it, and in his last new attitude he was 
manly and honorable), " I believe, after all, that 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita, 67 

you cannot bear to part from Koizumi. Perhaps 
she is willing enough not to part from you ; but 
when you began it, which you certainly did, she 
was perfectly free to look out for herself. Now 
you seem to take it greatly to heart : if she is 
willing to have compassion on you, I will not be 
hard. She may stay if she chooses, and our con- 
tract shall be void. But I make two conditions : 
you must marry her immediately, and the jin- 
riki-sha and any other things I may give her 
must be hers forever. I leave you to decide the 
matter between you." And then I hurried away, 
knowing well that it was already decided in both 
their minds before I had finished speaking. 

That night there was another feast at the Fuku- 
ya, — a genuine wedding jubilee. Almost all 
Sakanoshita was there, even the nanushi. His 
eldest daughter was prevented from attending by 
a trifling indisposition. In the midst of the pro- 
ceedings Koizumi made opportunity for a few 
words with me. 

"I do not know when I shall venture to tell 
him the truth," said she ; " probably never. But 
I do think, that, after it is "all over, I may safely 
say that the kuriima shall be his." 

. ''You are a foolish little girl," said I; "but 
you shall do as you please." 



68 Japanese Episodes. 



VI. 



It was time for me to close my holidays among 
the mountains. The long vacation was nearly 
over, and I had yet the old metropolis to see. 
Two days later I started westward. Koizumi 
gave me a little wallet, which she had worked 
with her own hands, and which I use to this day. 
She regretted that her poverty prevented her 
from offering a worthier gift ; but she could not 
have thought of any thing prettier or more ser- 
viceable. Yamadori bestowed upon me one of 
the ingenious paper lanterns of that district, 
which can be folded, and carried in the pocket. 
He testified his devotion in two other wa^^s : 
first, on the back of the jin-riki-sha he painted 
my monogram in brilliant colors, copied from an 
envelope which Koizumi picked out of a packet 
for him, and, alluding to it as my "crest" 
(mon) , vowed that it should always shine there 
in remembrance of me ; next, although wholly 
unused to the work, he insisted on bearing one 
end of the pole of the kago in which I was car- 
ried toward Ootsu 



Little Fountain of Sakanoshita, 69 

I promised that I would certainly return to 
Sakanoshita during the next semi-annual recess, 
and I meant to do so when I said it. But some- 
thing else turned up, as it always happens, and I 
suppose it is a question if I ever see the place or 
them again. Once in a great while I receive little 
scraps of letters from them. They say that they 
are happy, and do not forget me. 



TO FUZIYAMA AND BACK. 



I. 




UZIYAMA, the loftiest and most cele- 
brated peak of Japan, can be ascend- 
ed with comfort, I may even say with 
safety, only in the months of July and August, 
and occasionally in the early part of September. 
At all other times its summit is covered with 
snow. When, therefore, a few days after my 
arrival in that land, which was at the end of a 
certain August, the suggestion broke forth one 
evening, that a compact and sympathetic party 
should straightway be formed for the achievement 
of the famous mountain, I inwardly hailed it 
with keen delight, though I felt impelled to 
respond at first with these words only : — 

" Very good. I approve ; but I also protest." 
Protest? Why protest? and against what ? 
And, if "protest," wherefore "very good"? 
Would I be kind enough to explain ? 

Of course I would explain ; nothing was easier 
70 



To Fuziyama and Back. 71 

than to explain. No inconsiderable part of my 
career as an excursionist in various parts of the 
globe had been passed in protesting against 
precisely the same form of tourist absurdity 
which long and unvarying experience taught me 
to foresee impending in the present instance. I 
had protested alike in Wales, Franconia, Scot- 
land, the Rocky Mountains, Egypt, and Switzer- 
land ; always earnestly, often logically, sometimes 
eloquently, and never successfully. Either the 
superior resolution of companions, or my own 
feebleness of will, had invariably overcome me. 
But, confident of the justice of my convictions, 
I proceeded to protest once again, — as I shall 
forever continue to protest, under kindred cir- 
cumstances, even with the certainty of defeat 
before me, — with more energy and at greater 
length than need here be repeated, but to the 
following effect : — 

In preparing for expeditions of the kind now 
projected, all travellers, whatever their age, 
station, or place of birth, accept, without consid- 
eration or discussion, as a foregone and inevitable 
conclusion, the fictitious necessity of interrupting 
the regular habits of their lives, impairing their 
digestions, embittering their tempers, destroying 
their powers of observation, and dulling their 



72 Japanese Episodes. 

senses of delight for several hours of the day, 
by causing themselves to be partially aroused 
(thorough wakening is impossible) at incongru- 
ous and exasperating hours before dawn, and 
performing superhuman feats of exertion, in the 
delusion that the grandeurs of nature can be 
best appreciated and most satisfactorily enjoyed 
under these abnormal conditions. It almost 
seems superfluous to expose the fallacy ; yet 
there never was a vagrant pleasure-party, and I 
suppose there never will be, capable of taking 
arms against, and, by opposing, ending it. They 
all seek new sights of beauty or wonder at a 
time when partial darkness covers the face of 
the earth, and it is next to impossible to dis- 
cern a single object. They invite sensations of 
novelty and freshness in a dazy stupor which 
stifles all exhilaration and excitement. They 
deprive themselves of the hours of rest to which 
they have been accustomed, and, with singular 
innocence or effrontery, expect to maintain an 
unfailing flow of high spirits and good temper. 
They disorganize their systems by anachronistic 
food, and wonder what has suddenly become of 
their health and vigor. They defy a whole series 
of physical by-laws, and, after many wasted 
days, return from their laborious jaunt dejected, 



To Fuziyama and Back, 73 

jaded, and retaining only vague and disconnected 
outlines of recollection, instead of full, unclouded, 
wholesome memories. And all because of a loose 
and uninvestigated theory, that, for the tourist, 
inordinate early rising is '' the only correct 
thing ; " all because certain hardy travellers here 
and there — mostly Englishmen with prodigious 
muscular endowments, and constitutions capable 
of gigantic resistance to fatigue — have sometimes 
accomplished excessive and unnecessary exploits 
of endurance by abridging their sleep for weeks 
and months together, and been accepted as ex- 
amples of a fanciful rule that the pleasures 
of exploration can be properly pursued in no 
other way. Because there are Alpine clubs 
and the like, it seems there shall be no more 
true and rational summer diversions, but only 
hurry, discomfort, fruitless toil, exhaustion, and 
regret. 

All this and more I represented to my friends, 
as we sat around the debris of an excellent dinner 
in one of the Yokohama hotels, with divers inge- 
nious amplifications and apt illustrations, with 
subtle irony, apophasis, and other powerful expe- 
dients of rhetoric ; and, as they were pleasantly 
occupied with comparisons between the flavors of 
Japanese melons and those of more familiar climes, 



74 Japanese Episodes, • 

I was suffered to proceed uninterrupted to the end, 
and fancied that this, time, at least, I had pro- 
duced an impression, and had not protested in 
vain. But, before the echoes of my peroration 
had died away, a voice arose, calmly proposing, 
as if no previous word upon the subject had been 
spoken, that our breakfast should be ordered at 
four o'clock of the latter part of the coming night, 
and that we should hold ourselves ready to start 
promptly at five. The old, old story was told 
again, — of five o'clock in the morning. The fu- 
tility of remonstrance was obvious ; and I bowed 
to the ridiculous but inexorable decree of fate, as 
I had bowed a hundred times before, and am 
likely to bow a hundred times again. Something 
was said about the possible difificulty of securing 
a suitable interpreter, and of obtaining official 
permission to go beyond the " treaty limits " in 
so short a time ; but these tasks were cheerily 
undertaken by one of the company, — an old resi- 
dent, familiar with the necessary processes ; and 
the question was dismissed without debate. Im- 
mediate orders were issued for unlimited supplies 
of every description of canned provisions ; and 
battalions of sturdy posters were engaged by 
deputy, to precede us with bedding and other 
impediments which we were led to believe were 



To Fuziyama and Back. 75 

essential, but the uselessness of which was speedi- 
ly demonstrated. Thus Fuziyama, a stray sug- 
gestion at half -past seven, p.m., was a settled 
determination at eight, and would begin to be a 
realization nine hours later. If a doubt crossed 
our minds, we dispelled it by reflections that we 
were already close upon the region of Arabian 
Nights' romance, where superabundant food could 
be produced in the twinkling of an Aladdin's 
lamp, and all obstacles to rapid travel overcome 
in the shake of a Prince Houssain's carpet ; 
and that in these very islands, more than one 
hundred and fifty j^ears ago. Captain Lemuel 
Gulliver had done things not less wonderful, on 
the whole, than those which we were about to 
accomplish. 

It may not have been precisely four o'clock on 
the morning of the 3d of September when we 
re-assembled for breakfast ; but it was sufficiently 
early to disqualify the party from any boisterous 
demonstrations of liveliness, and to relieve the 
repast from extravagant hilarity of movement. 
Torpor was the prevailing and almost unconquera- 
ble tendency. The candles were few, and the large 
room was dim and gloomy. The atmosphere was 
by no means so favorable to confidence in the 
magic possibilities of Scherazade and Dean Swift 



76 Japanese Episodes, 

as we had found it last night, apart from the cir- 
cumstance that our faith in Oriental miracles 
now received a more direct shock. The G overnor 
of Kanagawa could not be found the night before, 
and the passports were not ready. The inter- 
preter upon whom we had counted was too busilj^ 
occupied with other affairs to accompany us, as 
he declared in a polite apologetic note. These 
unexpected mishaps would naturally compel a 
slight delay ; but then, as the porters with the 
supplies had not st^irted at their appointed hour, 
our own detention might not be wholly malapro- 
pos. It is a singular thing, but it is strictly true, 
that as the time required to adjust these little 
matters passed by, and daylight began to appear, 
I felt myself wonderfully improving in equa- 
nimity ; and when, after we thought all was ar- 
ranged and we might at last set out in earnest, 
it was discovered that one of our carriage-wheels 
was broken, and that we must return to the 
stables for another vehicle, I grew quite buoyant, 
and would have become amiable on very small 
provocation. It is not without complacency that 
I recall my own magnanimity at that particular 
period. I did not say "I told j^ou so!" in 
words ; nor did I suffer that irritating observation 
to be legible in my countenance. I never inti- 



To Fuziyama and Back, 77 

mated, even remotely, that, if my remonstrance 
had been heeded, we might have gained at least 
two extra hours of snug repose. But I thought 
a great deal upon the subject ; and the peace of 
mind that my reflections afforded me was in- 
expressible. 

These preliminary mishaps having been duly 
remedied, we found ourselves, at half -past seven 
o'clock, outside the gates of Yokohama, and rat- 
tling briskly along the broad To Kai Do. Wheth- 
er it was that the practical vindication of my 
arguments had soothed me, or that drowsiness 
had been dispelled by the succession of slight 
disagreements, or that I now felt a hearty satis- 
faction in knowing that nothing would be lost to 
sight in the darkness which precedes dawn, all 
trace of disquietude — of which I need hardly 
say there was no very serious amount at any time 
— rapidly vanished, and I felt as free to enjoy 
the morning ride as the circumstances should 
warrant. 

Our route had been laid out under the guid- 
ance of experienced advisers, and was calculated 
to afford as extensive and as varied a series of 
adventures as a hasty tour of six or eight days 
would permit. For some forty miles we were 
to travel westward by wagon along that same 



78 Japanese Episodes, 

To Kai Do, long known as one of the extra- 
ordinary chain of magnificent avenues, which, 
constructed centuries ago for communication 
throughout the empire, at a time when wheeled 
vehicles were undreamed of, are at this day, in 
many respects, as suitable and convenient for any 
kind of passage as most country roads in Europe 
and America. Their breadth, their evenness, 
and their solidity are truly astonishing, consider- 
ing the remote period when they were built, and 
the years that have passed without their having 
received any material improvement or repair. 
And their beauty is as remarkable as their en- 
durance ; for they are all flanked with majestic 
pines, frequently in double rows, which overarch 
the way for unbroken miles, and, without inter- 
rupting the view on each side, afford constant 
and refreshing shade. This To Kai Do, which 
I now fairly saw for the first time, and which 
extends from Sinagawa, a suburb of Tokio, to 
the outskirts of Kioto, three hundred miles 
away, is, from its situation, the most important 
of all ; and we were, of course, duly eloquent over 
the circumstance that we were now in nimble 
and unimpeded progress upon a thoroughfare 
not only of national and historical consequence to 
the Japanese themselves, but also famous as the 



To Fuziyama and Bach. 79 

favorite object of terror to English writers of 
the previous ten years, who, almost without ex- 
ception (and entirely without justification) , grati- 
fied a morbid fancy by picturing it as a veritable 
Valley of the Shadow of Death. 



80 Japanese Episodes, 



II. 



September weather, in the part of Japan which 
we traversed, is the finest of the year. The 
heaviest summer rains are then over ; and the air 
is deliciously cool, excepting at very mid-day, 
besides being perfumed with all the freshness of 
the invigorated fields. Everywhere about us were 
the signs of careful cultivation in the valleys, 
and beauties of a wilder nature upon the high- 
lands. Pleasant villages abounded along the road, 
the inhabitants of which turned for a moment 
from their tasks, as we passed by, to bestow 
a hasty salutation. As the morning advanced, 
the prospect was varied by the gradual rise of 
the O Yama (great mountain) range, a little 
to the north. This is a line of hills, the highest 
of which is some six thousand feet above the 
sea-level, and which has always borne a partic- 
ular reputation for sanctity, to that degree, that, 
until very recent days, foreigners could not ap- 
proach it except by stealth. We were told that 
it was thickly covered with temples, and — which 
was afterward found to be quite true — that stair- 



To Fuziyama and Back. 81 

cases reached to its topmost point. But, bent 
as we were upon scaling a far loftier height, the 
respectable altitude of O Yama did not much 
impress us. Our carriage-route took us through 
several flourishing towns, and over a number of 
streams, most of which had to be crossed in 
boats, recent freshets having swollen them so as 
to make fording impracticable. Until noon our 
course was wholly inland ; but a little after twelve 
o'clock we came upon the shore of Odawara Bay, 
one of the great inlets of the principal island, 
which the To Kai Do skirts for half a dozen 
miles. At this particular time the bay was in a 
state of fine agitation ; and heavy rollers ten feet 
high dashed up the beach to the thresholds of 
the fishermen's cottages that lined the way. 
While the afternoon was yet early, we reached 
the bank of the Sakawa River, beyond which, 
according to the provisions of the treaties, stran- 
gers might not pass without especial permission. 
The rule, however, was merely nominal, and only 
theoretically adhered to in order that it might be 
enforced in case of necessity, which has now and 
then occurred. So far as we were concerned, 
although properly supplied with passports, we 
were not even questioned by the guard ; nor, 
indeed, had we occasion to assert our privileges 
at any time throughout the journey. 



82 Japanese Episodes. 

During the greater part of the year the Sakawa 
is a low and narrow stream, or, rather, a collec- 
tion of streams, winding irregularly through the 
crevices of a broad bed, which is never really 
filled except in the seasons of freshets. But, like 
all the other rivers of this mountainous island, it 
then rises to extraordinary height and width, and 
at times becomes impassable. We were fortunate 
in catching it just at the critical limit. A few 
inches more, and we might have been obliged to 
wait, perhaps for days, until the overflow should 
subside. As it was, the method of crossing was 
sufficiently hazardous to disturb the nerves of the 
timid. Being our first opportunity of genuine 
adventure in Japan, we were bound to welcome 
it ; but some of the natives who undertook the 
passage at the same time, particularly those of 
the gentler sex, openly showed themselves as little 
at tlieir ease, as, possibly, we felt. For each pas- 
senger there was a platform of planks about six 
feet square, the corners of which were taken upon 
the shoulders of strong porters, who, assisted by 
long poles, cautiously felt their way through the 
rapid flood. For a considerable part of the dis- 
tance the water rose to their armpits, and all 
their strength was needed to resist the impetuous 
current. More than once they were obliged to 



To Fuziyama and Back, 83 

pause and rest, supporting themselves by their 
staffs, at which times the frail vehicle was lifted, 
over and again, by the aggressive waves. If they 
had missed the course of the ford, the conse- 
quences might have been serious enough, in such 
a torrent. But they were never guilty of a mis- 
step ; and the worst that happened to anybody 
was a bath of spray, or the submersion of half 
an inch of the body, when an unforeseen eddy 
would flow over the edges of the boards. . The 
crossing occupied nearly half an hour. We all 
declared that we enjoyed it heartily, and would 
not have missed it for any consideration ; but I 
did not observe that any regrets were shed over 
the fact that our return route to Yokohama had 
been so arranged as to lead us another way. 

From the river's side to the town of Odawara, 
a distance of about a mile, we proceeded on foot, 
escorted by as many of the youthful population 
as had become aware of our approach. The 
demeanor of these juvenile followers was peculiar. 
So long as they found themselves unnoticed, they 
surrounded us at every point, scrutinizing us with 
a minuteness that left no detail of our appearance 
free from criticism ; but, the instant the slightest 
attention was directed toward them, they fled in 
confusion and excitement, and rallied only when 



84 Japanese Episodes. 

it appeared that we were once more absorbed in 
our own concerns. This was at first regarded as 
mere affectation, and so, undoubtedly, with the 
youngest it may have been ; that is to say, with 
those whose experience of foreigners had been 
limited to a single season. The others, I regret 
to say, had more substantial grounds for their 
timidity. They had learned that the temper of 
the Western nations is capricious and untrust- 
worthy ; and that behind a smiling exterior a 
malicious ingenuity often hides. Odawara is not 
sufficiently remote from the foreign centre to be 
ignorant of what the roughs of the colony are 
capable of. The children were shy of us then, 
and they grow shyer every year. The adults do 
not much admire us ; but they see their way to 
probable profit as a result of casual intercourse, 
and do not shrink from the chances of a little ill- 
treatment. Moreover, they are not absolutely 
certain of never-ending abuse. The}^ belong to 
a race of optimists, and perpetually look forward 
to encountering parties of excursionists who will 
treat them like human beings. On rare occasions 
their hopes are gratified ; and then they call their 
friends together, and tell them about it, and the 
event becomes a topic of conversation for weeks 
together, throughout the neighborhood. 



To Fuziyama and Back, 85 

Our projects did not call for a long delay in 
Odawara ; but there were kagos ^ to be hired for 
those who had faith in their questionable comfort, 
and native slippers and sandals to be purchased 
for those who contemplated occasional pedestrian 
experiments : so an hour of leisure was decreed, 
and various rambles through the town were under- 
taken. It was not then a place of the first im- 
portance, and fishing was almost the only industry 
of the population ; but it was still the chief town 
of a large province, and at the time of our visit 
was the residence of a tolerably powerful claimio^ 
— not one of the greatest, but a lord whose an- 
nual revenue in prosperous seasons may have been 
equal in value to a million and a half of dollars. 
We found his ancient castle with little diflSculty, 
as it stood conspicuous in the centre of the town, 
and amused ourselves by picturing, in imagination, 

* Kagos were, at the time of which I write, the only popular ve- 
hides in Japan, and to a considerable extent they still remain in use. 
They are of two kinds, which differ only in trifling details of con- 
struction. Those used by the fastidious are square boxes, with 
regular sliding-doors, windows, and roof: they are commonly called 
nori-mono. The less pretentious consist of a shallow round basket, 
hung by joints of bamboo from a stout pole. When the article is in 
use, each end of the pole rests npon the shoulder of a porter. At 
first view it seems an instrument of hideous torture, and so it often 
proves to the unaccustomed foreigner; although a Japanese fits him- 
self as contentedly within it as a chicken may be conjectured to fit 
itself to the interior of a shell. 



86 Japanese Episodes. 

its now decaying walls and towers in the full glory 
of mediaeval pomp, and crowded with the valorous 
men-at-arms who perished ages ago in its defence. 
The interior was not accessible, the last represen- 
tative of the feudal house of Okubo still main- 
taining some vestiges of his former state therein. 
We consoled ourselves, in ^sopian fashion, with 
the conviction that things inside must be even 
worse than the exterior ; and we were right, 
although we did not know it then. There is a 
deal of majesty and stateliness about the walls of 
the old castles of Japan ; but the mansions within, 
with their myriads of apartments for vassals of 
every rank, have mostly fallen into ruins, and 
those which still retain the antique framework and 
outline are melancholy in their gradual decay. 
They were to a great extent already deserted at 
the time of our tour ; and, once unoccupied and 
uncared for by their former owners, they soon 
ceased to be habitable. 

In four of the most spacious kagos that the 
town afforded, we set forth again, and ere long 
forsook the broad To Kai Do, for a branch road 
leading more directly to the mountainous region 
northward. There are various wa3^s of reaching 
the foot of Fuziyama ; and it would be a waste 
of opportunities to go and return by the same 



To Fuziyama and Back, 87 

route. We had decided to leave the To Kai Do 
passage till the last. The pathway which we now 
ascended was at first spacious, but presently grew 
so narrow and precipitous as to be practicable only 
for horses, or such conveyances as we were em- 
ploying. Here the scenery grew wilder and more 
strange. The rocky shelf over which we were 
carried overlooked the river that flows from the 
Hakone Lake, and rushes into the bay with a force 
that stirs it to boiling foam. Innumerable tribu- 
tary streams dashed over the hillsides ; and the 
stony walls that encircled us were curiously cleft 
at intervals, revealing exquisite glimpses of tran- 
quil valleys beyond. Although we were in bright 
sunshine, it was evident that heavy rains had 
preceded us ; for we were continually met by 
reports of pathways obstructed by inundations, and 
bridges swept away. As long as these tales of 
mishap did not bear directly upon us, we found 
in them much matter for diversion, and congrat- 
ulated ourselves on the unusual features of our 
progress. But, coming suddenly upon a porten- 
tous chasm which imperatively barred our way, 
and which there could be no hope of crossing, our 
spirits were modified. It then became necessary 
to turn back, and seek another gap, over which 
hung a suspension-bridge consisting of a single 



88 Japanese Episodes. 

rope. From the rope a straw basket was swung, 
in which we were separately hauled across, with a 
speed that showed long experience on the part of 
the natives, and a complete disregard for our want 
of familiarity with the process. It was doubtless 
safe enough for those who had been brought up 
to it, and so, I presume, are the tight-rope 
exploits of the Blondin tribe ; but I think it is 
more entertaining to remember than it was to go 
through with. To this day, I cannot recall the 
tossing and plunging air voyage from cliff to cliff, 
with the white water raging among the rocks 
below, and all view of human surroundings shut 
off by the sinking of the cord, without a feeling 
of giddiness. It was a relief to learn, on arriving 
at the other side, that the way to our resting-place 
for the night was clear from that point. Our 
passion for adventure and romance was satisfied. 
I have no words to convey a sense of the 
beauty of the landscape, as we proceeded farther 
among the hills. The old measures of comparison 
fail entirely in Japan. Superlatives of expression 
are not needed, nor would they be justified ; for 
there is a more genuine grandeur in Switzerland, 
and, perhaps, a more nearly perfect grace in many 
parts of Southern France. But the charm here 
lies in the constant variety and the- unexpected 



To Fuziyama and Bach. 89 

combinations of opposite extremes. The views 
change abruptly, and with kaleidoscopic swift- 
ness. There are towering crags, gloomy abysses, 
shining valleys, bleak heaths, and fertile meadows, 
all following each other in such close succes- 
sion as to seem almost a defiance of the com- 
mon law of nature. As I lay back in my kago^ 
indifferent, that day, to physical constraint, I 
found it bewildering and amazing, but inexpressi- 
bly lovely. The path was carpeted with thick 
mosses, and hedo-ed with brio;ht ferns. At times 
it was shaded with arching pines, and at others it 
wound along the edges of precipices, beneath 
which were clustered pretty villages with rich 
farms and dainty gardens. Wild flowers hung 
from the rocks, and twined about the shrubbery in 
profusion. There were few houses upon the route ; 
but here and there a red temple peeped from a 
thicket of bamboo. Toward evening the ascent 
became more rapid ; loftier peaks began to rise 
around us, and fogs obscured the valleys below : 
but even at this altitude we could discern, 
through curtains of mist, neat little patches of 
rice and tobacco, wherever a level spot had been 
found sufficiently broad to be thus utilized. In 
consequence of the detention caused by the broken 
bridge, it grew quite dark before we could reach 



90 Japanese Episodes. 

our evening's destination. The sure-footed kago- 
bearers had no need to slaken their pace, and 
hurried us through the twilight as if the sense of 
sight were not at all necessary to their security. 
There was no moon ; and, after a little time, noth- 
ing was clearly distinguishable on either side. 
Imagination, however, lined the way with a series 
of mysterious caverns and grottos, more mar- 
vellous, no doubt, than any of those which we had 
actually seen, and upon which these dim fancies 
were based. Serenades saluted us from every 
direction, — the songs of insects^ (they are not 
content with humming, but have learned to sing, 
in this land) , the rustling of foliage shaken by the 
wind, and the echoing fall of countless cascades. 
Finally, lights were seen, flickering and dancing 
in om* path. Every thing was weird, fantastic, 



1 The melodious capabilities of some of the Japanese insects are 
remarkable. The semi, a sort of large locust, carries about with 
him an apparatus upon which he plays with such shrill emphasis as 
to delude the inexperienced stranger into a belief that he is listening 
to a bird of great size and i)ower. Sometimes he executes a long 
and plaintive wail, with a pathetic "dying fall," and sometimes 
emits a cheery note, like a jovial whistle. It is not really a vocal 
operation at all, but a curious instrumental performance. The susu 
mushi (or bell-insect) is even more peculiar. In the summer even- 
ings he fills the air with sounds like that of a sharp, clear stroke 
upon a tiny bell, or like a prolonged jingling of the same. The 
illusion is perfect; not merely a resemblance, but seems a positive 
identity. 



To Fuziyama and Back, 91 

unreal, in that strange scene. It is elfin-lancl, 
even in the estimation of the Japanese them- 
selves ; and these forests are filled with ghostly 
legends. Were these, then, goblin lamps, to lure 
us to confusion, perhaps to dire catastrophe? 
Nothing of the sort. They were friendly lan- 
terns, sent out by our advance-guard of porters, 
to cheer the last opaque half-mile, and to notify 
us of our near approach to the famous baths of 
Miyanoshita. ^a^o-carriers and torchmen united 
in choruses of enthusiastic glee; the march was 
again quickened, and, ten minuted later, we entered 
the village inn, four generations of the proprietor's 
family meeting us at the door, and welcoming us 
with low bows and jubilant acclamations. 



92 Japanese Episodes. 



III. 



MiYANOSHiTA enjojs a high repute, not only for 
the advantages of its situation, but also for hot 
mineral springs, which are said to possess rare 
healing qualities. The latter we had no occasion 
to test, and of the former it was impossible to 
judge at the late hour of our arrival. We found 
it convenient only, to exhaust the contents of 
certain cans, and dispose ourselves in comfortable 
positions for repose. Each traveller had a win- 
dow to himself, looking out upon a tempting vista 
of woods and waters, half lighted by the moon, 
which had now risen. But the fatigues of the 
day were irresistible, and the bewitching reality 
soon gave place to cjreamy visions. There was 
no appreciable difference between the waking and 
sleeping impressions. I suppose it is only in 
Japan that one can rouse himself from the fan- 
tasies of the night, and confront the facts of 
morning, without serious disappointment. Dreams 
are not often so enchanting as the outlook from 
the Miyanoshita windows at sunrise. 

Fair as it was, we could give but little time to 



To Fuziyama and Bach. 93 

it ; for every hour, at this period of the year, 
might add to the difficulties of ascending Fuzi- 
yama. It was essential that we should reach the 
foot of the mountain that night. So, after hastily 
breakfasting, and taking leave of our host, his 
grandmother, mother, wife, and troop of children, 
we coiled into the kagos^ to which we were becom- 
ing inured, and started upon the passage of the 
Hakone range, which interposes, like a Titanic 
wall, between the eastern provinces and the soli- 
tary giant of Suruga. For a while, this barrier 
hid the loftier peak ; but, as we steadily mounted, 
the sharp and regular cone appeared again, as 
perfect in the exactness of its proportions as 
when seen from the greatest distances. From 
the highest point of these inferior hills, perhaps 
four thousand feet above the sea-level, we had 
the first unbroken view of the entire mass of 
Fuziyama. But for a single protrusion on the 
southern slope, caused by an eruption a century 
and a half ago, the smooth curve is unvarying 
from the summit to the base. In' spite of enor- 
mous bulk and towering height, this evenness of 
outline gives an appearance of delicacy and soft- 
ness which can never be dissociated from it. 
Gentleness and serenity seem always to be its 
crowning attributes. The rugged vigor of the 



94 Japanese Episodes, 

mountains of Europe and North America declares 
them of a wholly different type. 

The second day was less eventful than the first, 
and the progress was slower. We found abun- 
dant reason to admire the strength and endurance, 
and, above all, the good spirits, of our A:a(/o-men, 
who made light of a labor which seemed to us 
superhuman. They laughed and sang as merrily 
when lifting us at incredible angles over acclivi- 
ties which could only be surmounted by literally 
climbing from step to step, as if they had been 
strolling on level ground for their mere pleasure : 
we found it impossible, for our part, to accom- 
plish a mile on foot without any burden at all. 
When we arrived at comparatively level ground, 
we relieved them by walking ; but this did not 
seem to increase their comfort to any extent, and 
they were alwa^^s quite as ready to receive us 
back as we were to be taken in. More than once 
they would start of their own choice, and trot with 
us up a steep incline the simple sight of which 
was almost enough to take our breath away. 

Late in the afternoon we came to the town of 
Subasiri, from which the ascent on the eastern 
side of the mountain usually begins. This, how- 
ever, is only a matter of ancient custom, which 
tourists will in due time reform, since better points 



To Fuziyama and Back. 95 

of departure can be found much farther on. But 
Subasiri is a place of note, and has a temple of 
considerable renown, from which pilgrims receive 
spiritual encouragement before taking the final 
steps toward the accomplishment of their mission. 
It has a comfortable inn and a hospitable popu- 
lation, the young men of which gambolled on the 
green, after dinner, for our diversion. Among 
other sports they attempted a wrestling match. 
We had heard much of Japanese wrestling, and 
watched the exhibition with curiosity. But there 
was little skill displayed ; and in fact one of om* 
own party, mingling in the good-humored fray, 
overthrew the champion with scarcely an effort. 
Whereupon they declared that they were only 
amateurs, and that their sole purpose was to 
afford entertainment to the visitors. 

The following day was to be devoted to the 
supreme effort, and it is needless to say that the 
mania of midnight starting again possessed my 
ambitious companions. If arguments were un- 
availing in Yokohama, it would have been still 
more useless to proffer them here. An early bed 
did not bring quick repose, certain obstacles to 
slumber having, up to this time, evaded such 
exterminating processes as the innholder of Su- 
basiri has brought to bear upon them. Never- 



96 Japanese Episodes. 

tbeless, at half -past two in the morning we were 
called together ; and at three we stumbled drowsily 
forth, fortunate, at least, in a fine moon, which 
enabled us to distinguish the road which we were 
to pursue. Fuziyama was dimly perceptible ; but 
nobody praised it, and nobody found it attractive. 
How could any mountain make itself engaging to 
senses depressed and benumbed as ours were? 
As a simple matter of course, we all dropped into 
our hagos after having walked half a dozen rods, 
and next dropped into sound sleep, from which 
nothing could disturb us until we were deposited 
at the spot where the ascent on foot always begins. 
I here remark, for the benefit of future explor- 
ers who may desire to climb this celebrated moun- 
tain, but shrink from its hardships, that the labor 
is needlessly increased by following the . custom 
of the natives, and abandoning the Tcago at the 
first approach to elevated ground. It always has 
been done ; and as the Japanese, especially in the 
rural districts, are remarkable for their fidelity to 
precedents, they assume that it always must be 
done. I believe there is no sort of unwillingness 
to afford every accommodation that might be 
asked for ; but strangers, of course, do not know 
what they are likely to require, and trust blindly 
to the assurances of their guides. A person who 



To Fuziyama and Back, 97 

had once accomplished the feat would understand 
exactly how to proceed ; but nobody attacks Fuzi- 
yama a second time. The new-comer, being told 
positively that it is necessary to walk from a given 
point, because everybody does the same, gives no 
thought to the matter, and does as he is advised. 
The truth is, that, for many miles up the mountain- 
side, the way is freer from difficulties than the 
path over the hills of Hakone, which are alwa3^s 
crossed in kagos, AYhat is more, if horses were 
employed, the toil of more than one-half of the 
ascent could be wholly avoided. I have some- 
times contemplated, more or less seriously, a repe- 
tition of this trip on purpose to show how easily 
it might be done ; but on reflection have concluded 
that it was better to offer the practical counsel 
than to make the personal sacrifice. So here I 
announce to all excepting those who take a pride 
in extravagant achievements of pedes trianism, that 
with the help of a little persuasion and some reso- 
lution, just sufficient to overcome an old preju- 
dice, and secure the co-operation of any stable 
proprietor in the locality, two-thirds of the path- 
way to the summit of Fuziyama may be traversed 
with no greater difficulty than Mount AYashington 
in New Hampshire, or even little Snowdon in 
Wales. 



98 Japanese Episodes. 

In our complete ignorance, we surrendered the 
vehicles at the first suggestion, and made the 
usual purchases of stout poles, which are sold in 
a little wayside temple on the pretence that they 
greatly facilitate the work of ascending. This is 
another illusion of mountain-travelling, which 
flourishes in every part of the world where moun- 
tains exist. I do not know what it may be to 
those who are familiar with such labors ; but, to 
the uninitiated, the staff is more of a hindrance 
than a help. In the first place, the energies of 
the holder are exhausted in the endeavor to invent 
methods of making it effective ; in the next, its 
mere weight, however slender it may be, becomes 
a serious burden at that inevitable time when the 
sharp angles of ascent make the pilgrim impatient 
of each superfluous ounce. But everybody takes 
a pole ; and so, of course, did we. I presume, 
after all, that it did not retard our progress more 
than a quarter of a mile an hour. The sun was 
rising while we arranged this little matter of outfit, 
and we could not resist the temptation to delay and 
watch its action upon the peak above us. First, 
the pile of cold gray deepened to a thick and 
heavy tint, like lead ; the prominent lines of the 
sides and top alone being touched by a dull, 
ruddy hue, with little sign of life or brightness. 



To Fuziyama and Back, 99 

Presently purple shadows began to pass from 
point to point, faint and flickering for a while, 
afterward firmer and deeper, until the whole broad 
cone was richly suffused with a tranquil and 
tender color that seemed to wait only for a kin- 
dling spark to flash into luminous vitality. But 
the changes were yet measured and gradual. 
Delicate lines of violet crept irregularly down the 
slopes, as uncertain in their course, and indefina- 
ble, as the waves of the Polar Lights. Then 
bolder rays succeeded ; the vast bulk contracted 
with the growing distinctness ; and, suddenly 
enough at last, as the sun rose from the horizon 
behind us, the summit burst into a blaze like liv- 
ino; flame. This flood of dazzlino; licrht threw all 
beneath into deep shadow again ; and for many 
minutes the line of demarcation was sharp and 
abrupt, like a black shore receding before a tide 
of fire. There was no interval of gradation be- 
tween the fierce glow above and the heavy gloom 
below. AYith the further rising of the sun, this 
phenomenon disappeared, and, before long, all 
that was visible of mountain-top became a radi- 
ant mass, darting strange gleams of changing 
brilliancy, as startling in their quick mutations 
as those of a huge opal. It was incredible that a 
great barren pyramid of rock and cinder could be 



100 Japanese Episodes. 

so swiftly turned to such a miracle of half-trans- 
parent lightness and iridian beauty. Few effects 
like it are possible in this world : perhaps the 
same effect is nowhere else possible ; for it needs 
the unusual combination of a mountain of extraor- 
dinary height and yet free from snow, the entire 
absence of rival intervening peaks which would 
break tlie overwhelming rush of sunlight, and an 
atmosphere purer than Europe or the inhabited 
parts of America ever know. 

With the exception of one little depression near 
the starting-point, where a descent of a few feet is 
necessary to cross a ravine, the rise, from begin- 
ning to end, is uninterrupted. For some miles it 
is gradual ; and we did not find it too fatiguing, 
so long as we carried our poles over the shoulder, 
and made no attempts to use them. The way was 
almost entirely our own. A fortnight earlier, ayc 
should have had the companionship of thousands 
of pilgrims ; for Fuzi3^ama, during the months of 
July and August, is crowded with devotees from 
all parts of the country, who flock to its summit 
with no special religious purpose, but with the 
general conviction that it is an act of piety which 
will bring its own reward in some undefined way. 
The visits for this year were at an end ; although 
one little party of four passed us in the morning, 



To Fuziyama and Back. 101 

and found their way to the top with a speed that 
we approved, but could not emulate. There is a 
general impression that women are not permitted 
to ascend Fuziyama ; but there were certainly two 
young girls in this native quartet of which I speak. 
None of them wore the regular pilgrim's dress 
of white cotton ; but all, the girls included, were 
clad in a sort of page-like attire, which, with the 
trousers rolled far above the knees, was sugges- 
tive of some of the epicene costumes of the bur- 
lesque stage. As these active damsels skipped by, 
we gazed upon their robust legs, not so much with 
admiration as with envy. It was clear that there 
would be no premature giving out on their part ; 
and I may as well here admit, that, long before 
we had finished our upward work of that day, we 
saw them descending by another route, having 
performed the whole operation while we were yet 
in the preliminary stages. But the elastic endur- 
ance of these Japanese is something of which we 
have hardly a conception ; and for a foreigner to 
lament his inability to equal their exploits would 
be an endless waste of time. 

Vegetation rapidly disappears upon the sides 
of Fuzi ; and, at the height of four thousand feet, 
little is seen around the path but rough pebbles, 
lumps of lava, and fields of ashes. But there 



102 Japanese Episodes. 

are no difficulties worth thinking of, until, at 
about eight thousand feet, the first of the line 
of ten halting-places, provided for the comfort of 
weary travellers, is reached. These convenient 
stations are situated at tolerably regular distances 
from one another ; and two or more stone cot- 
tages have been built at each. They serve the 
purposes of little hostelries during the season ; 
but all were closed, and the doorways walled up, 
at our time. They begin at the point where it 
is supposed that roadside reliefs are necessary 
to soften the increasing labors of the journey ; 
although, in fact, many of them may be passed 
before the heavy strain sets in. It was obvious 
to us, that horses might be used for a considera- 
ble distance beyond. We were not experts in 
this sort of work ; but we felt nothing like ex- 
haustion until after passing the fifth station, and 
then we knew that we had nearly reached our 
limit. There were soaring spirits among us, who 
talked, with resolution, of striding to the summit 
before nightfall ; but, though their voices were 
firm, their knees shook visibly in contradiction. 
Strong differences of opinion arose ; but these 
were evenly adjusted, in good season, by natural 
processes. The weaker ceased to discuss, and 
pulled themselves along with silent determination 



To Fuziyama and Back. 103 

to prolong the struggle to a certain altitude, and 
then to put in the most effective form of passive 
resistance by lying down and going to sleep. The 
stronger assumed an exuberance which they did 
not truly feel, by way of offering an encouraging 
example, and so wrought upon themselves by 
loud argument and feats of activity, that, con- 
trary to their will and expectation, they suddenly 
shut up, not ''in measureless content," but like 
jack-knives, and confessed themselves conquered. 
It was at ' ' Number Eight ' ' that this conclusion 
was arrived at. There were still several hours 
of daylight, but none of us, excepting our guides, 
to the manner born, were fit to utilize them ; and 
a vote for postponement of further operations 
until dawn of the next day was carried without 
dissent. 



104 Japanese Episodes. 



IV. 



'^Number Eight" is a station of some con- 
sequence among its fellows. It has quite a 
cluster of stone huts, and undoubtedly contains 
a floating population of several hundred sleepers 
during the liveliest weeks of summer. Of course, 
we found it totally deserted. Without much 
difficulty, — we were ready enough to labor with 
our arms, — the stones which blocked the door of 
the principal chalet were pulled aside, and abun- 
dant space for shelter was dimly revealed, to- 
gether with a large supply of firewood, which 
there was reason to believe we might need before 
the morning. What we did not discover, al- 
though we looked for it rather earnestly, was 
water. Our pioneers had thought it was possi- 
ble that some of the tanks might have been left 
partially full ; but not a drop could be found. 
This was a serious disappointment ; inasmuch as 
we had been so confidently assured we could reach 
the top, and descend again, in a single day, that 
we had brought a very limited supply of refresh- 
ments of any kind. The absence of solid food 



To Fw^iyama and Back, 105 

was not so important a matter ; and, indeed, we 
still had an odd crumb or two left : but we no 
sooner knew that we were destitute of water than 
everybody forthwith experienced a raging thirst. 
While we were debating, with some uneasiness, 
the possible consequences of this miscalculation, 
one of the escort astonished us by proposing to 
go up to the summit, where there was a peren- 
nial well, and fetch us as many bottlesful as we 
wanted. He was pretty sure he could find the 
well : he had drank at it a hundred times, and, 
though it might be dark, he could probably feel 
his way to it. We suggested, that, in case he 
failed, it would be a pity to have taken so much 
trouble for nothing ; to which he answered, that 
it was a trifle, and that he would be back, with 
or without water, before bedtime. Whereupon, 
stimulated by this display of enterprise, another 
attendant remarked that our box of edibles was 
nearly empty, and that he thought he could not 
do better than go back to Subasiri, and replenish 
it. This time we did remonstrate in earnest ; 
but he laughed at the idea of there being any 
thing heroic in the undertaking, and declared he 
should find it a very pleasant midnight jaunt. 
When he saw to what degree he had surprised 
us, he grew very proud of his proposition, and 



106 Japanese Episodes. 

drew so merry a picture, we were informed, of 
the sensation he should produce at the tavern by 
breaking in at two in the morning, that we saw 
no occasion for making any further objections on 
his account — on our own, it is needless to sa}^, 
we were delighted. As the water-seeker started 
away in one direction, he set forth in the other, 
pledging himself to be back, sufficiently laden, in 
time for our breakfast. 

We had now nothing to do but enjoy ourselves 
with such prospects as the great elevation afforded 
us ; and, although we were on the wrong side of 
the mountain for the most striking effects of sun- 
set, we found enough to give us hour after hour 
of uninterrupted wonder and delight. The sur- 
face of the country was totally hidden by clouds, 
and it was with the singular transformations and 
illusions of these veils of vapor that our attention 
was occupied. It was the more fortunate for us, 
since nothing in the real panorama could have 
equalled the fanciful images that spread themselves 
before us. The land- view from a very lofty moun- 
tain is seldom of itself remarkably fascinating. 
There is a sense of majesty in the prodigious 
expanse, but there are no details for the eye to 
rest upon. After a certain height, the individual 
forests, lakes, and smaller hills, all disappear, or 



To Fujiyama and Back. 107 

melt into what seems like a broad circle of rolling 
waves. From greater heights, the waves appear 
more subdued ; and from the greatest the scene 
has all the dead tranquillity of the ocean in a calm. 
Excepting in places where the air is as clear as in 
Japan, there is much more to be gained by ascend- 
ing low mountains than high ones. The picture 
from Montanvert is lovely ; but I wonder if any- 
body ever felt a genuine gratification in being at 
the top of Mont Blanc, except that of having 
triumphed over a host of difficulties and dangers, 
and accomplished a feat which is still considered 
worthy of immortality in '' The London Times." 
All mountain- views, after a certain point, are much 
alike, and it is only when they are seen through 
an extremely favorable medium that they present 
any special or distinctive characteristics. Take 
away its own peculiar atmosphere from Fuziyama, 
and it would be no better worth surmounting than 
the highest peaks of Europe. As it is, it has 
qualities which will always recommend it, even 
to tourists who have gauged the resources of half 
the famous mountains of the globe. 

Against the background of the horizon, we 
beheld that evening such spectacles of cloud- 
pageantry as none of us would have believed the 
earth could show. All that was marvellous in 



108 Japanese Episodes. 

form and color, more than the imagination could 
have summoned, was set before us with a splendor, 
that, to our unaccustomed eyes, seemed super- 
natural. It was not with a feeling of calm satisfac- 
tion that we gazed upon these visions, but of vivid 
excitement. They lasted long after the hour of 
sunset in lower regions, and until we were driven 
within walls by the increasing cold. The wind 
was sharp and bitter after the sunlight had wholly 
disappeared ; and we were glad to avail ourselves 
of the protection which the rough architects of 
" Number Eight " had supplied. 

It was soon necessary to make use of the stores 
of fuel left by the late occupants. Even in mid- 
summer the rigors of the nights require artificial 
heat ; and now, in September, we should have 
suffered severely without it. Our prudent attend- 
ants had matches and candles ; and in a short time 
we were gathered about a brisk wood-fire, kindled 
on the bare ground, in the centre of the hut. The 
construction of these mountain-retreats is primi- 
tive. They consist of four stone walls and a flat 
roof of boards, on top of which are piled bowlders 
and blocks of lava, to keep the lighter substance 
from flying away in high winds. They have no 
chimneys or windows ; and the door is of the 
narrowest possible dimensions. The first conse- 



To Faziyama and Bach, 109 

quence, therefore, of a fire, is a thick and pervad- 
ing smoke, which packs itself into every crevice 
of the interior before finding its way through the 
scanty apertures of the eaves and corners. This 
dreadful smoke increased our thirst, which was a 
new distress*; but, on the other hand, it broke up 
our appetite, which was a benefit, in view of our 
short stock of provisions. At nine o'clock we 
heard hilarious cries without; and presently, 
through the double darkness, the form of Aqua- 
rius disclosed itself. He was welcomed with a 
fervent drinking-chorus. He had scaled the 
heights, found the well, broken its covering of 
ice, filled his bottles, and returned, all in about 
three hours. We were able, the next day, to esti- 
mate the merits of this exploit. 

We divided such food as remained to us with 
our native companions, and united in an effort to 
make a comfortable arrangement of our quarters 
for the night. The only coverings we could get 
together were one travelling-rug, a A'a^o- cushion, 
and two Mackintosh overcoats. Watches were 
set to keep the fire in undiminished force ; but 
they were not fairly maintained : and we under- 
went the pleasing changes of altei'nate fierce glow 
and decaying flicker until morning. The dreamy 
transitions from Greenland's icy mountains to 



110 Japanese Episodes, 

India's coral strands impaired the temper, and to 
some extent enfeebled the sense of integrity, of 
the party. Whenever the cold became intolerable 
to any one in particular, he would rise, fling an 
armful of loose wood upon the embers, steal an 
overcoat from the soundest sleeper, and turn over 
again to uneasy repose. The Japanese, however, 
appeared to suffer little disturbance. In one re- 
spect, this was difficult to understand. That they 
should remain insensible to the cold, being by 
habit inured to exposure, was in the natural order 
of things ; but how they could breathe the tran- 
quil slumbers of the blest, with their feet and legs 
among the coals (into which position some of them 
had worked themselves), was a problem w^hich 
recollections of the Book of Martyrs would not 
help to solve. Of course, it was a miserable night. 
No consciousness of adventure can keep the spirits 
alive in the face of unutterable weariness ; and the 
conceit of \ymg ten thousand feet above the earth 
does not compensate for the want of w^holesome 
sleep. And tossing restlessly upon bare- lava, 
inhaling smoke and cinders, and riding AYalpurgis 
steeds for broken periods of half an hour each, 
is not sleep. Occasionally I ventured forth, and 
tried to soothe myself with glimpses of the moon ; 
but the air was too eager, and nipped away all 



To Fuziyama and Back. Ill 

my enthusiasm before I could get it into working- 
order. 

There was no dispute upon the question of early 
rising the next day. I, sole member of the usual 
opposition, was this time as ready as any to meet 
the dawn half way. If persuasion had been 
needed, I was bursting with arguments to prove 
that the whole glorious aim of our expedition 
would be frustrated, if we failed to see that par- 
ticular morning '' flatter the mountain- tops with 
sovereign eye." But we were all of one mind. 
Any thing to get away from the tribulations of 
'' Number Eight." Undoubtedly we were unjust 
to that well-meaning station. It did the best it 
could for us ; and what we must have endured 
without its shelter cannot be thought of now with 
composure. We could not see its solid merits in 
a fair light at the time: so at three o'clock we 
shook the ashes from our feet, and resumed our 
ambitious toil. It was not entirely dark ; but 
dense clouds shut off the view below, and the only 
direct sign of light was a faint russet tinge upon 
the eastern horizon. From the first, the ascent 
was far more difficult than any thing we had gone 
through with the day before. I think the great 
fatigue of Fuziyama is not especially owing to 
its steepness and frequent uTcgular abruptness. 



112 Jaijanese Episodes, 

although these are painful enough, but rather to 
the cu-cumstance that there is never any variation 
or relief from the steady upward course. Other 
mountains have their little caprices of level or 
decline ; but here there is none. The strain is 
never for a moment relaxed ; and the angle near 
the summit is so sharp, that it is next' to impos- 
sible to stop even for a moment's rest. Except- 
ing at the halting-places ' ' Number Nine ' ' and 
"Number Ten," the effort of standing still and 
keeping a foothold in the loose cinder, or upon 
the slippery rock, is greater than that of pushing 
constantly forward. We had little opportunity 
of turning back to watch the changes of the 
approaching sunrise ; but all that we could see was 
repetition of the superb effects of the previous 
evening. When, at last, the sun came in full 
sight, the rainbow splendors of the scene disap- 
peared. We were surrounded on all sides by a 
daze of glittering white, with no solidity of sub- 
stance or color anywhere apparent, except the 
isolated fragment upon which we stood. The 
very mountain-top seemed floated from its foun- 
dation. 

We reached the highest point at seven o'clock. 
Then the clouds had rolled away ; and for a short 
time we had around us the broad cu'cle of sea and 



To Fuziyama and Back. 113 

land, including no less than thirteen provinces, 
which Fuziyama commands when the upper air is 
cleared, and the lower strata are unburdened with 
vapors. The prodigious sweep and comprehen- 
siveness of the view were deeply impressive ; but 
the distribution of the landscape was quite undis- 
tiiiguishable. In many directions, the face of the 
country seemed like a prairie, although we knew 
it to be as uneven as any in the world. The most 
striking of the distant objects was the jagged 
outline of the southern coast, which, for leagues 
in the neighborhood, was deposited and shaped by 
this very volcano, in its days of life. But nothing 
remote could well compel attention here. The 
mountain itself had the absorbing claim ; and it 
was long before the immeasurable solemnity of 
its desolation and solitude could be disturbed by 
consideration of the details which contribute to 
its grandeur. Our senses were under the spell 
of an awful gloom ; which is indeed, at all times 
and to all persons, the controlling influence of the 
scene. 

Yet there were details which must not ^ be 
slighted, and which, when we contrived to turn 
our minds toward them,- we found full of interest. 
The crater, barren of flame for ages, and now filled 
up to within six hundred feet of the summit ; the 



114 Japanese Episodes. 

village of low huts that stretches almost entirely 
around its edge ; and the groups of images of 
Buddha, in stone and bronze, that were planted 
in every accessible open space, — all received due 
attention, although I think that I would have 
preferred abandoning these minutiae, and clinging 
to the first impressions of the gigantic whole. 
The truly lasting and memorable effect is that of 
the circuit around the summit, — a walk of three 
miles, — which shows the long lines of the descent 
in every aspect. They are much alike on all sides ; 
and their almost identical precision is one of the 
strange characteristics of the peak. From the 
summit, as from below, the cone is nearly perfect. 
We were fortunate in our morning, and had noth- 
ing to interrupt our observations while we re- 
mained. The plains below were soon shut out of 
sight ; but that was a minor matter, as I have 
endeavored to explain. Contrary to our expecta- 
tion, there was no wind ; and the temperature 
was mild, even warm. Nothing broke the silence 
but the sound of our own voices, and, once, the 
shrill scream of a hawk that flew over us. 



To Fuziyama and Back, 115 



V. 



At nine o'clock we turned our faces downward. 
The descent was principally by a different route 
from the winding, zigzag course by which we had 
mounted, — more direct, and far more rapid. It 
ran for a considerable distance through a little 
ravine, the bed of which was filled with powdery 
cinder, and along which it was possible to slide 
for rods together, without danger or very great 
discomfort. To climb up by such a path would 
have been out of the question ; and it is never used 
except for the return. The descending progress 
was simple, though at first embarrassing in its 
arbitrary manner of relieving the traveller from 
all responsibility. He had only to advance his 
foot, — either foot, — and the operation would 
take care of itself for a series of yards. The foot 
would disappear, as in a quicksand, a luxurious 
sensation of bird-like flight would follow ; and the 
foot, — either foot, — emerging into view, gave 
notification of the necessity for a new departure. 
In this way, a single step was sometimes suflS- 
eient to propel one a dozen times his own length. 



116 Japanese Episodes, 

The onl}^ peril was that of eollisiou, and this was 
frequently inevitable. No amount of activity, no 
vigor of stride, could enable the light weights to 
hold their own, or check the career of the more 
ponderous who came in contact with them. The 
race was not to the swift or the strong, but to the 
heavy. 

We might have continued in this easy way for 
some miles, but for the need of turning aside, and 
regaining our '' Number Eight," where the mes- 
senger for food, w^ho had left us the night before, 
was to rejoin us. He was on hand, and had 
already been waiting half an hour. It seemed to 
us the most amazing thing we had ever heard of, 
entirely overshadowing the feat of the water- 
bearer ; but the unwearied climber insisted that it 
was nothing worth alluding to, and said that the 
hope of sharing in the division of the spoils had 
amply sustained him throughout. He was re- 
warded with beer, at the sight of which one of 
his comrades darted off with a sprightly purpose 
in his eye, beseeching us to drink nothing until 
his return. We saw him winding among the cliffs 
for a few minutes, and then lost sight of him ; 
but soon he re-appeared, and, after sundry ante- 
lope bounds, stood again among us, bearing a 
distended cloth, the which, on being laid open, 



To Fiiziyama and Back. 117 

was found to contain a fine lump of the purest 
snow. It was worth its weight in thanks, and we 
did not hesitate to say so. We even said it in 
Japanese ; a certain form of polite acknowledg- 
ment being one of the most frequent ejaculations 
of this courteous race, and, consequently, one of 
the most quickly grasped by strangers. 

While we sat and breakfasted, we were sur- 
prised by the appearance of a couple of foreign 
tourists who had come still a day later than our- 
selves in the season. These were Baron Rich- 
tofen, the eminent scientist, and Dr. Wagener, 
one of the most earnest and generous laborers in 
the intellectual development of the youth of Japan 
that Europe has supplied. I was not at that time 
aware that either of these gentlemen possessed a 
single claim to consideration ; and as they told us 
they had left Subasiri only at three that morning, 
and that they meant to thoroughly explore the 
summit, and descend before night, they produced 
in my mind no feeling but that of extreme bitter- 
ness. It was exasperating to hear a pair of 
pedestrians talk so cavalierly of accomplishing 
in less than eighteen hours what had cost us, or 
would cost us, nearly two laborious days. But 
one of the twain afterward became an excellent 
friend of mine ; and before I left Japan, three 
years later, I formally forgave him. 



118 Japanese Episodes, 

The truth undoubtedly is, that, to experienced 
mountaineers, Fuziyama presents no difficulties 
equal to those which may be found, by those who 
choose to search for them, among the Alpine 
ranges ; and its ascent and descent in a single 
day is not a task of heroic dimensions. What 
our Japanese guides did, of their ow^n free will, 
showed the rate at which they valued the labor of 
running up and down. But, in the record of our 
expedition, I have had to deal with four individu- 
als of merely ordinary endowments of fibre and 
endurance, — of a kind that will represent the 
majority of excursionists in the same direction. 
Speaking to such, I warn them against being led 
astray by the representations of hardened experts, 
or of agile natives. Let them try Fuziyama, by 
all means ; it is one of the '- ' sensations " of a 
lifetime ; but let them never dream of giving less 
than two days to the work, and let them bear well 
in mind the valuable hints hereinbefore set down 
with regard to the usefulness of equine aid up to 
a point far beyond any yet attained with the con- 
sent of the inhabitants. 

I think that breakfast at "Number Eight" 
ranks first of all among the memorable repasts of 
many lands. AVe were all faint with hunger, to 
begin with ; and that is better than all the piquant 



To Fuziyama and Back. 119 

sauces of the Boulevards, Regent Street, or Fifth 
Avenue. And the meal itself was by no means 
contemptible. We had rice, eggs, potatoes, pot- 
ted ham and beef, green corn, tea, and beer, — 
incongruous, perhaps, but with many a lively 
charm of unexpectedness. We ate till close upon 
noon , and then took leave of ' ' Number Eight ' ' 
in a far more charitable humor than that which 
inspired us at early morning. It was a dreary 
hovel then ; and now we thought of it only as a 
cosey wayside retreat, an eligible snuggery, the 
sort of place to go and pass a week in. Turning 
off to one side, we resumed our sliding descent, 
until the approach to solid beds of lava, and the 
occasional interference of sharp ledges, admon- 
ished us to caution. Here our guides good-na- 
turedly proposed to assist us with their broad 
shoulders, and they offered themselves so simply 
and smilingly, that everybody was glad to accept. 
As a general rule, there is something intensely 
objectionable in suggestions of this sort. A Swiss 
does it in an offensively patronizing way ; a South- 
American Indian cringes horribly ; an Arab, in 
the Pyramids, holds out his hand, and you can 
see the palm itching as he extends it, — he exults 
avariciously over your weakness, as the occasion 
for pressing small pecuniary demands upon you. 



120 . Japanese Episodes, 

Each time he offers to take hold of you, you feel 
that it is from a grasping motive in the wrong 
sense. A Japanese wants to help you because 
you are tired, and unused to the exertion ; and it 
is the most natural thing in the world for him to 
lend a little of his superfluous strength. There- 
fore, it is a satisfaction to cling to him. Espe- 
cially as he is clean. The Arab of the Pyramids 
is never clean. It is the prerogative of guides 
in most countries to be otherwise. 

It was still early in the afternoon when we 
reached the place where we had left our kagos 
the morning before. They were waiting to re- 
ceive us, and, as a matter of inevitable custom, 
hailed us with a heartiness, that, in other lands, 
would not have been inappropriate if we had been 
their steadfast and liberal patrons for years. The 
return to Subasiri was rapidly accomplished ; and 
the splashing revelry of hot and cold baths ab- 
sorbed all attention for a considerable period. 
Then followed dinner, and afterward the formal 
auditing and settlement of accounts with the inn- 
keeper. His charges, though not inordinate, were 
eccentric. We found, for example, the article of 
fine weather set down as an important item. It 
did not appear probable, that, even in the interior 
of a country of such strange possibilities as Japan, 



To Fuziyama and Back. 121 

fine weather could really be bought and sold like 
more controllable commodities : so we demanded 
an explanation. We were informed that Fuzi- 
yama, being a mountain of more or less sacred 
attributes, was subject to the influences of the 
priests who are settled at its base ; and that they, 
having been duly applied to, had exercised their 
charms and spells to prolong the clear and favora- 
ble weather for our benefit. The sum was to be . 
transferred to them, not retained b}^ the host for 
his own uses. Discussion upon this topic would 
have been laborious : so the financial knot was 
cut by striking out the questionable item without 
debate. The amendment was accepted without a 
remonstrance, — even smilingly ; from which we 
inferred that the expedient had probably been 
tried before, and found equally ineffective. These 
claims duly adjusted, we were ready enough for 
an early bed ; but I, at least, could not secure 
sleep at the first or second invitation. The ex- 
cessive fatigue, and the recollection of the vast 
variety of new experiences, combined to keep me 
from more than a drowsy inertia. All the night 
long I wandered over hills and valleys of fantastic 
imagination, scaling immeasurable heights, plun- 
ging into fathomless abysses, suffering unlimited 
pangs of hunger and thirst, shrinking appalled 



122 Japanese Episodes. 

before the most trifling obstacles of exploration, 
and triumphing with a simple impulse of the will 
over the wildest impossibilities. Toward morn- 
ing, I became deeply involved in the landscapes 
represented upon the dimly-lighted screens around 
me. They were complicated beyond description, 
and embraced scenes of startling incongruity, 
such as could never have had existence except in 
the mind of a most fanciful artist ; but I followed 
them in all their intricate windings, and, before 
dawn, was familiar with every detail of their 
topography. I was greatly pleased with them, 
and had settled upon a place of residence in one 
of them, which I had thoroughly decided not to 
quit for a fixed number of years, when the flitting 
forms of the tavern domestics aroused me to full 
consciousness, and dragged me from my peace- 
ful retirement in the heart of a Japanese screen. 



To Fuziyama and Back. 123 



VI. 



Many roads lead to Fuziyama, and we had nat- 
urally determined to vary our journey by select- 
ing a different returning route from that through 
which we had come. We would abandon the 
valley of Miyanoshita, and make a circuit by the 
way of Hakone Lake, — a very famous sheet of 
water in native legend and poetry. Before start- ^ 
ing, however, I became conscious of a duty to be 
performed. An exposition of generosity came 
upon me. The guide who had propped and sus- 
tained me during the latter part of my downward 
mountain progress must be rewarded by my own 
words, my own smile, and a pecuniary token from 
my own hand. He was summoned, and I ad- 
dressed him in what I think may be aptly called 
modified English. He seemed interested, and his 
countenance brightened, especially at the moment 
when the pecuniary token touched his palm. 
"Observe, fellow-countryman," said I to one of 
our party, " observe the quick intelligence of this 
man. He understands me perfectly. He knows 
my motive, and is grateful. I am pleased with 
him. I will give him another coin." 



124 Japanese Episodes. 

The fellow-countrynian appealed to, who was 
as new to Japan as myself, agreed cordially that 
it was a most interesting incident ; but another 
companion, an old resident, and consequently a 
scoffer, remarked that anybody would understand 
the offer of a bit of money, and that it .did not 
require an apprehension of the highest order to 
look alive, and hold out his hand, under such cir- 
cumstances. 

Feeling pained, but still confident, I pushed 
the question of mutual understanding a little fur- 
"^her, and tapped the man on both shoulders, to 
remind him more acutely of the precise service 
he had rendered me, and of the obligation I had 
intended to requite. To m}^ amazement, he in- 
stantly dropped upon his knees, and bowed his 
head to the ground. 

The sceptic laughed a hardened and derisive 
laugh. '' He thinks you want him to kneel, and 
thank you in the regular Japanese way : that is 
all that enters his mind." 

''It may be so," said I with a sigh-; "but 
still I hope the question is susceptible of discus- 
sion. 

Nevertheless, we did not discuss it. 

Our objective point for the day was the town 
of Misima, once a commercial station, on the To 



To Fuziyama and Back. 125 

Kai Do, of considerable importance, though now 
sadly faded from its former prosperity. The 
road was more level than those over which we 
had passed upon our approach to Fuziyama, and 
presented on all sides the richest evidences of 
fertility and plenty. From beginning to end, it 
was a lovely, panorama of neat villages, terraced 
rice-fields, and groves of bamboo and palm, here 
and there dotted with residences of wealthier 
holders of the soil, surrounded by ample parks 
and flower-gardens. Still languishing a little 
under our recent fatigue, we lounged lazily in the 
hagos throughout the day, in various experimen- 
tal and unromantic attitudes, sometimes touched 
with remorse at the uninterrupted labors we were 
imposing upon our carriers, but speedily consoled 
by their constant hilarity, and the consciousness 
that any of their class would be glad enough to 
exchange places with them for the sake of their 
profitable job. The view of Misima, in the 
middle of the afternoon, roused us to active obser- 
vation. It had not, at that period, ceased to be 
a busy and thriving town, and it was more con- 
spicuous for cleanliness and beauty than I be- 
lieve it is at this day. Possessing exceptional 
water-privileges, its outskirts were crowded with 
little mills and factories ; its houses were of 



126 Japanese Episodes. 

greater size than any we had seen since leaving 
Yokohama ; and in a broad open space at the cen- 
tre, we discovered a temple of far more imposing 
dimensions and brilliant adornment than we had 
before encountered. A remarkable peculiarity 
was the existence of runnins; streams throuo-h 
many of the thoroughfares, suggesting recollec- 
tions of Salt Lake City, although here the water- 
courses were deeper, and more carefully walled 
in, to prevent their intrusion upon the footways. 
We passed through an avenue of tall pines into 
the To Kai Do, which divides the place in half, 
and thence into the most agreeable hostelry that 
our journey had yet revealed to us. Its situation, 
of course, was not to be compared to that of the 
Miyanoshita inn ; but it had unrivalled charms of 
its own, — an interior which was not only spa- 
cious, but which was ingeniously contrived, by 
some artifice of architecture, to appear far more 
comprehensive than it really was ; decorations, in 
every hall and passage, of genuine artistic merit ; 
singular cleanliness ; and a system of manage- 
ment which indicated high culture and prolonged 
experience in the practice of hotel-keeping. We 
were informed that it was a '' daimios' tavern ; " 
that is to say, when the annual progress of the 
daimios to Yedo was still a custom, this house 



To Fuziyama and Back. 127 

was one of their regular resting-places. As the 
journeys of those lordly gentlemen had ceased 
some years before, there was no longer any 
necessity for holding in reserve the special apart- 
ments once devoted to them ; and so we were 
installed in the daimios' room, which we straight- 
way proceeded to occupy, and in which we dis- 
posed ourselves in a manner which might have 
been more familiar than feudal, but which, we 
were convinced, was much better suited to the 
relief of the weary senses than the aristocratic 
formalities to which the spot had in ancient times 
been consecrated. We lounged industriously, 
assiduously, with all the might that was left to 
us, stirring only to take advantage of the changes 
of view which the various open doors and win- 
dows afforded ; — one, an exquisite garden, elabo- 
rated to the last degree of miniature effect ; 
another, the commercial thoroughfare, its shops 
covered with strange placards and sign-boards, 
one of which, weather-beaten and half illegible, 
was in the Dutch language, and announced sup- 
plies of foreign medicines, — a sign that had been 
carved and painted perhaps three hundred years 
ago, when the Hollanders travelled freely along 
the high roads, and left some traces of civiliza- 
tion as partial compensation for the miseries they 



128 Japanese Episodes, 

helped to bring upon the country ; a third, — now 
and always the most attractive anywhere within 
a hundred miles, — the peak of Fuziyama, un- 
changed in the symmetry of its form, though 
seen from a totally new point of observation. I 
suppose none of us who formed that little body of 
excursionists will ever forget the Misima ' ' yado- 
ya'' and its surroundings. For my own part, I 
envy those who were destined never to revisit it. 
It fell to my lot to inhabit it once again, two 
years later, when I found it only the wreck of its 
former self. The march of improvement in 
Japan had left it stranded on the past. 

A walk about the suburbs supplied, in 1870, 
and does at the present time, although the place 
has lost a part of its old activity, as good an 
opportunity as could be desired to examine the 
system of Japanese life and subsistence as it 
exists in the townships, and, with certain modifi- 
cations, throughout the empire. The methods of 
mutual support, the expedients of exchange, the 
remarkable self-sustaining powers of a single 
locality, are nowhere better exhibited. Like 
man}' other districts in these islands, Misima and 
its adjacent hamlets form, in a certain sense, a 
little commonwealth by themselves. They do 
engage in some manufactures which are sent 



To Fuziyama and Back. 129 

elsewhere ; but their chief occupation seems to be 
to relieve themselves from any possibility of bur- 
densome dependence upon distant regions. This 
instinct of self-maintenance may have had its 
origin in feudal times, when it was the first neces- 
sity of each province to make sure of its own 
faculty of protecting itself in case of aggressive 
rivalry, or downright hostility, on the part of its 
neighbors. Whatever the cause, its continuance 
is of inestimable advantage to the humbler classes 
of Japan. To it and its outworkings may be 
traced the absence of want and social degrada- 
tion which distinguish the race. Every member 
of a compact community finds an employment of 
some sort, and each has his claim to respectabili- 
ty in the fact that he is a recognized contributor 
to the comfort and welfare of the neighborhood. 
In the fields, factories, workshops, and ware- 
houses of this happy valley, the common object 
appeared to be to secure the complete production 
of all that would satisfy the various needs of 
the inhabitants on the spot, — to provide a sup- 
ply of every thing, not absolutely forbidden by 
natural laws, that the wants of the people should 
demand. 



130 Japanese Episodes. 



VII. 

At noon we moved eastward toward Hakone, 
upon the reports concerning which we based high 
expectations. Our road was now the broad To 
Kai Do, again lined with lofty and arching pines. 
At a little distance from Misima, its easy level 
disappeared, and a series of abrupt ascents led 
the way once more to the heights, which, at a 
farther distance north, we had traversed three 
days before. It is not difficult to understand the 
admiration with which the old Dutch writers 
dwelt upon this fine thoroughfare. Two hundred 
years ago, it must have been a marvel to Euro- 
pean eyes ; and, even at this day, there are many 
portions of it which may be compared, not at all 
unfavorably, to country roads in Old and New 
Eno;land. In the mountainous reorions it is often 
precipitous, and difficult of passage ; but at sucli 
places it is provided with stone steps to relieve 
the worst hardships of ascent and descent. 
Wheeled vehicles cannot pass these points ; but 
the To Kai Do was not made for wheels. Its 
carriages were kagos at the beginning ; and the 



To Fuziyama and Bach. 131 

use of more expeditious modes of conveyance was 
not foreseen or cared for. Those who wished 
for greater speed took horses, and rode accord- 
ing to their will. But, for the practical special 
purposes with which it was designed, the ''East 
Sea Road " stands th^ equal o*f any similar work 
in any country. Who can wonder at the effect 
its hundreds of miles of spacious solidity and 
dexterous graduation produced upon the minds 
of the unaccustomed visitors in the seventeenth 
century ? 

At various points between Misima and Hakone, 
particularly where the road escapes from its 
usual seclusion of walls of pine, and skirts 
some bold promontory, tea-houses are stationed, 
with little observatories attached, to invite the 
traveller, and afford him the best chances of 
inspecting the outlying attractions of landscape 
and sea-view. Yielding to most of these tempta- 
tions, we did not reach our destination until an 
unusually late hour ; but our Yokohama attend- 
ants had preceded us, and the servant of the best 
Hakone hotel was on the watch to marshal us 
over the last inequalities of the route. The lake 
is believed, like most of the inland waters of 
Japan, to lie in the bed of a worn-out crater, 
down the sides of which we were finally hurried 



132 Japanese Episodes. 

to its shores. The hour for investigation of any 
kind was long past, and active operations were 
necessarily suspended until the morning. Then 
the same good fortune that had followed us 
through the excursion brought a day of excep- 
tional brilliancy. The lake was properly our first 
consideration ; and our earliest cry, for boats and 
boatmen. Here, however, arose an obstacle 
which threatened for a moment to throw our pro- 
jects into confusion. Boats there were, in abun- 
dance ; but, owing to the lateness of the season, 
the boatmen had given over all anticipation of 
pleasure-seeking tourists, and had settled them- 
selves to other avocations. One only could be 
found ; and he shrank from the labor of propelling 
us over the whole length of the lake, and back, 
unaided. He was old, and apparently not over 
strong, and would not be persuaded or beguiled. 
For a brief and anxious period it seemed that we 
should be compelled to forego our aquatic scheme. 
We could not undertake to supply. the motive 
power ourselves, none of us understanding the 
peculiar manipulation of a Japanese oar. Sudden- 
ly, our leading servant announced, that, though 
unused to the labor for many years, he could 
twist a paddle, in case of need, with any navi- 
gator that Hakone could produce. From that 
moment, we were at ease again. 



To Fuziyama and Back. 133 

I a,m afraid I have not hitherto clone justice 
to the worthy qualities and diversified accomplish- 
ments of this excellent man-of-all-work. In fact, 
it was only within a day or two that he had begun 
to shine with the full effulgence of which he was 
capable. We had originally taken him with us 
in spite of some misgivings, for which he was 
himself responsible. When we failed to obtain 
the interpreter w^hom we had counted upon, he had 
presented himself in Yokohama, and proffered 
claims to our consideration, which, so far as we 
could know, consisted of much zeal, and ten words 
of English. He had himself declared he was 
afraid he should not do, but was prepared to try 
his best. Moved rather by the frankness of his 
acknowledgments than by any sense of his fitness, 
we adopted him into our cortege. His ten words 
of English gave him a sort of supremacy at the 
outset, to which he speedily vindicated a more 
substantial title. He was an excellent waiter, 
could cook at a pinch, knew the route thorough- 
ly, and had a tolerable fund of information and 
anecdote in relation to the country through which 
we passed. But it was not until we left Subasiri 
that he developed his higher moral qualities. Up 
to that time, our party of four had included, as I 
have had occasion to mention, one old resident of 



134 Japanese Episodes, 

Japan, who was familiar with the language and the 
manners of the people, and who could guard our 
innocence against any snares of mild deceit, or 
deviations from pecuniary rectitude. At Subasiri 
we lost this mainstay, he being obliged to return 
to Yokohama by the most expeditious course. 
Thenceforward we were forced to lean upon our 
chief retainer. His first action was to buy him- 
self a straw hat. He had worn no hat at all, 
before, in which respect he was not distinguished 
from his fellow serving-men. With the hat, he 
assumed a tone and bearing of decided superiority 
over those with whom he had been accustomed to 
make himself equal. He smiled more than ever 
when he spoke to us ; but with his countrymen 
his demeanor was grave and distant, — not haughty 
or discourteous, but impressive. He exhibited a 
singular facility in the combination and compre- 
hensive application of his ten words of English. 
From his tongue they really seemed to flow with 
a colloquial fluency not inferior to another man's 
hundred, or two hundred. He was partially intel- 
ligible almost half the time. He kept our accounts 
with scrupulous care, checked the premonitory 
symptoms of extortion which the innkeepers al- 
ways manifested on finding that we were green 
strangers, awed the baggage-porters into submis- 



To Fuziyama and Back. 135 

sion whenever they displayed slight signs of re- 
bellion, and in every way protected our interests 
with fidelity and firmness. Finally he perched 
himself upon a pinnacle in om* esteem by divest- 
ing himself of his dignity in our time of need, 
and transforming himself into a gondolier. The 
least we could do was to bestow upon him a com- 
plimentary title, and so we called him Proteus. 
Moreover, we gave him a place in our memory, 
with other donations more directly applicable to 
the grosser requirements of his nature. 

All these, and other things, being settled, we 
were soon floating upon the dark surface of 
Hakone Lake. And here, for the first time during 
our excursion, we were compelled to confess to 
a disappointment. The lake was not all our 
fancy had painted it. There shall be no denial 
of its many obvious beauties ; but, on the whole, 
it could not strikingly affect those who had chanced 
to become familiar with the lakes of Switzerland 
or Italy. Perhaps its own extreme altitude (it 
is sometimes said to be the highest sheet of water 
in Japan, and is, undoubtedly, several thousand 
feet above the sea-level) , which robs the surround- 
ing mountains of half their imposing grandeur, 
maj' be to its disadvantage. Indeed, I afterward 
had frequent occasion to observe that the high- 



136 Japanese Episodes. 

land lakes generally were not to be favorably 
measured with those of Europe and America. 
Whatever the cause, Hakone was comparatively 
unsatisfactory. Its body was of a gloomy hue ; 
and, as the occupant of a crater, it had no islands 
to vary its monotony. We traversed its entire 
length, some six or seven miles, to the north- 
western outlet ; then we returned, without enthu- 
siasm. I do not wish to speak harshly of this 
aggregation of celebrated waves ; nor do I, at 
this lapse of time, cherish any feeling of serious 
resentment against it for having failed to meet 
anticipation. Possibly, if we had come upon it 
before witnessing so many novelties and splendors, 
it might have touched us differently. The truth 
undoubtedly is, that we expected too much ; but 
it is equally the undoubted truth, that, in respect 
of its lake scenery, Japan is not justly entitled to 
enter the first rank among nations. 

The village of Hakone is a quiet and wholly 
unimportant little place, with barely a score of 
houses to its name. It has temples and bronze 
statues of some interest, and anciently of great 
repute ; and it possesses a historical consideration 
from the fact, that during the period of the Toku- 
gawa sway, from the time of lyeyasu until the 
overthrow of the dynasty in 1868, it was the 



To Fuziyama and Bach, 137 

most strictly guarded of all the approaches to 
Yodo. No persons, no matter what their rank 
might be, were suffered to pass without suitable 
examination ; and few women were allowed to 
cross the barrier on any pretence. It was the 
outpost of Odawara, which was designated by the 
founder of the Tokugawas as one of the eight 
natural defences of the Eastern capital. But the 
gates and guard-houses of Hakone disappeared 
with the last revolution, and we saw no trace of 
them, except their stone foundations. 



138 Japanese Episodes. 



VIII. 

Our progress after leaving Hakone was steadily 
downward to the village of Hata, which enjoys a 
very high and well-merited celebrity among trav- 
ellers of all nations. It consists of a single street, 
or, rather, it is made up of two rows of houses, 
which are built along the To Kai Do. There is 
no room for more. On one side the hill rises 
abruptly, and the other overlooks a deep chasm. 
This little line of shops and dwellings is famous 
in several ways. It is as full of industry as a bee- 
hive, and turns out an almost incredible number 
of small wooden- wares, — boxes curiously fash- 
ioned of a wood with rough white bark, which 
natural covering is left untouched ; trays ; small 
tables ; and toys of every description that can be 
made from trees. It clings to the side of the 
precipice in just the way to make it one of the 
most picturesque of all the villages in the neigh- 
borhood of Yokohama. And it has a dainty inn, 
of which all who have ever occupied it are rival 
eulogists. 

Tiiis excellent inn, once more, in consequence 



To Fuziyama and Bach, 139 

of the lateness of the season, was entu'ely at our 
disposal. It was not a spacious edifice, for such 
a thing is impossible in Hata ; but it united, in 
its modest dimensions, as many good qualities as 
most taverns of a larger (even the largest) growth 
can show. It has a gem of a gg^rden, containing 
a pond filled by a natural cascade, and quite a 
mimic labyrinth of paths and subterranean ave- 
nues. At the summit of one of its supposititious 
peaks is a pretty shrine, which appears to have 
been placed there for ornament — so far as guests 
are concerned ; and for use — so far as the regular 
household are concerned. I certainly saw more 
than one of them offering devotional tribute to 
it in the early morning. Perhaps the most capti- 
vating feature of the establishment was its corps 
of waiting-maids. They were sisters, and three 
in number. Their names, as a matter of fact, 
were brief, and not poetic, — ''Sin," ''Mon," 
and ''Kin," — as a matter of polite form these 
were syllabically expanded to any extent that 
might suit the courteous inclination of those who 
addressed them. They were young, blithe, and 
very alert ; and the circumstance that they were 
extremely pretty did not impair their eflScacy as 
domestics in the slightest degree. We talked to 
them with the greatest ease, and without the aid 



140 Japanese Episodes. 

of an interpreter. They did not understand us ; 
but that was a trifle which gave concern to n^^ither 
us nor them. They sang to us, and played the 
light fantastic samisen after dinner. It was a 
lovely night. There were three of them, and there 
were three of us, which we justly regarded as a 
coincidence. They were the first strikingly attrac- 
tive of their sex we had seen, and I think that 
some of us dreamed of them. 

Next morning we explored the place a number 
of times. This was accomplished without diffi- 
culty, as it needed only three or four minutes to 
move from one end of it to the other. AYe watched 
the gradual growth of toys and ornamental ware 
under the nimble fingers of the craftsmen. "What 
struck me as the most facile workmanship of all, 
though by no means the most delicate, was the 
evolution of rough sandals from a pile of rice- 
straw. The maker would grasp a loose handful, 
and, by rubbing and twisting it between his hands 
for a few seconds, would transform it into a thick 
cord, or small rope. A couple of longitudinal 
manipulations smoothed the surface of this cord, 
and made it ready for further development. Then 
the show began. I saw him take four strands, 
one in each hand, and one in each foot, — yes, in 
each foot, between the two biggest toes, — and 



To Fuziyama and Back, 141 

begin to plait them. That is all I can describe 
with exactitude. It was impossible to follow his 
motions after the first moment. He seemed merely 
to tie himself into hard straw knots a dozen or 
twenty times, and untie himself with his teeth, 
and, lo, a sandal ! When we applauded him, he 
looked bewildered. 

We were in the highest possible spirits. The 
brisk and busy temper of Hata quickened our 
senses, and moved us to a variety of amiable 
demonstrations. One of our party succeeded in 
establishing friendly relations with a dog. This 
was no insignificant achievement ; for the dogs of 
Japan, I regret to say, are of a very low moral 
grade. They are suspicious, morose, and intrac- 
table. They dislike all human beings, especially 
foreigners, and make no attempt to disguise their 
animosity. To win even a superficial show of 
familiarity from one of . them was therefore a 
triumph. This single pliable dog consented to 
accept a pat, and to confer a wag. I had never 
seen a dog's tail wag, in Japan, up to that 
moment. What was more, he followed us several 
times through the village, not impelled, however, 
by sudden affection, but rather moved by curiosi- 
ty, and apparently anxious to discover, through 
nasal examination, what there was about us that 



142 Japanese Episodes, 

had diverted him for a moment from his usual 
morbid humor. AYe had better fortune with the 
polite inhabitants of our own species. The adult 
population smiled and saluted us whenever we 
passed, though they were too busy to be disturbed 
from their regular vocations. But over the chil- 
dren we secured a complete conquest by a bril- 
liant coup. Among the manufactures of Hata is 
a kind of wooden whistle, which is, perhaps, too 
costly to be used at home, and is sent to the 
larger towns for sale. To blow a whistle is one 
of the instinctive propensities and brightest am- 
bitions of infancy, all the world over. Having 
collected the entire juvenile population, we dis- 
tributed whistles among them. The mountain air 
was straightway filled with shrill pipings of thank- 
fulness and praise. The public laughed ; the 
dogs withdrew from sight, growling ; and the 
birds on the trees exhausted themselves in efforts 
of rivalry. In the midst of the concert, we took 
leave of Hata. 

Why, we asked ourselves, as we walked down 
the rocky hillside, why should harsh destiny drag 
us from this place? Where could ''the smoke 
and stir of this dim spot which men call earth" 
be better dispelled and forgotten than here? 
What was there that forbade us to adopt this 



To Fuziyama and Back. 143 

tranquil village as our abiding-place forever ? 
Why might we not advantageously devote our 
future to an uninterrupted sequence of such harm- 
less delights as had occupied our last score of 
hours ? Why not continue to watch the carp in 
the pond at the tea-house, listen to the cascades, 
wonder at the miraculous growth of sandals, 
encourage canine civilization, bestow whistles upon 
small boys, and be vraited upon by successive 
generations of Sins, Mons, and Kins, to all eter- 
nity? In the discussion of these questions we 
became pathetic, until, finally, philosophy came 
to our aid, and comforted us with the reflection, 
that, in point of solid fact, a single month's devo- 
tion to the unaccustomed calm of Japanese rural 
life would probably have wearied us beyond en- 
durance. It may be the most blissful condition 
of existence in all the universe ; but the habits of 
Anglo-Saxon nature could never be held in per- 
manent subjection to such restraints as it imposes. 
A few hours more of the picturesque route 
which we had now come to look upon as a matter 
of course, in this region, brought us to the valley 
where Odawara lies, from which we had set forth 
a week before. From this point, we had arranged 
to vary our excursion by taking a boat across the 
bay to the Isle of Ye (Ye no Sima), which is 



144 Japanese Episodes. 

ranked by all native chroniclers among the most 
attractive spots of the whole empire. Our kago- 
bearers left us with a regret which I know was 
unfeigned, because they had been receiving from 
us, for several days at least, three times their 
usual wages. To the trifling task of hiring a boat 
our handy ten-worded servant declared himself 
fully equal ; and, indeed, in less than a quarter 
of an hour, he presented himself at the head of a 
procession of nine men, every one of whom, he 
contrived to make us understand, was considered 
indispensable to the comfortable management of 
a light craft in those waters. We did not believe 
it, and attempted to remonstrate ; but soon dis- 
covered the futility of argument upon a basis of 
ten words, and submitted without further resist- 
ance. So far as we could fathom the reasons 
assigned for this preposterous superfluity of ship's 
company, a little apprehension was entertained 
on account of the roughness of the bay, which 
would compel an extra degree of attention and 
care in navigation. It was not clear to us, that, 
under such circumstances, any possible advantage 
could be derived from overloading our craft ; but 
it was useless for us to say so ; and, none of us 
having studied in the Eavel school of pantomime, 
we could not express our convictions by gesticu- 



To Fuziyama and Back. 145 

lation alone. Naturally, we yielded, and we did 
not much regret it, after all ; for the various char- 
acteristics of our crew afforded no small amount 
of amusement during the voyage. 

Nobody ever embarks at Odawara without get- 
ting wet, on account of the high rolling surf. The 
Japanese sailors care nothing fcir this, as their 
clothing does not materially differ from that of 
the fish, their prey. We did not like it so well ; 
but it was no part of our business, on an expedi- 
tion like this, to take note of the few distaste- 
ful incidents which we could not avoid. After 
passing through our ordeal of spray, we shot out 
into deep water, and were presently skimming 
eastward with remarkable swiftness. The actual 
working of the craft was done by a couple of 
practised mariners. The other seven looked on, 
and sang. At least, they sang until the mast was 
fixed, and the sail spread, and the boat began to 
bound ; then some of them declined to sing any 
longer. I shall remember that little voyage as an 
instance of the fallibility of first impressions, and 
the impossibility of fairly estimating character 
by a superficial exterior view. Among our nine 
seamen were two that had particularly attracted 
my notice before starting. One was a model of 
youthful strength and activity, — hardy, muscular. 



146 Japanese Episodes. 

and handsome, the ideal sailor-boy of nautical 
romance. The other was ill-favored, dark, and 
lowering. He was not of the usual Japanese 
type. When I gazed upon him, I recalled the 
fact that certain ethnologists trace the race to a 
Malay origin. The ancestors of this forbidding 
creature were undoubtedly Mala}^ pirates. More- 
over, he wore a knife in his belt, which none of 
the rest did. But see what happens to the best- 
laid theories. Before we had been at sea, or, I 
should perhaps sa}^, at ba}^, a quarter of an hour, 
my sturdy heart-of-oak lay cm-led up in a stupor 
of sea-sickness ; while the corsair grew more and 
more exuberant with every tossing wave, and 
chanted briny melodies without ceasing, except 
when he was occupied in the endeavor to make 
some of the passengers comfortable by certain 
ingenious appliances of his own contrivance. As 
regards freedom from sickness, he was an excep- 
tion. He and the two managing directors alone 
preserved their internal equilibrium. The others 
went to grief early in the afternoon, and remained 
there until we neared our destination. In this 
respect they were not a particle better than our 
servants, who did not generally pretend to be 
any thing but landsmen. I have always held a 
private conviction, that at least two-thuxls of our 



To Fuziyama and Bach, 147 

crew were no more sailors than ourselves, and 
that they passed themselves off as such solely for 
the chance of making a pleasure-trip across the 
bay, and getting paid for it into the bargain. 
Holdmg this view, even at the time, I refused to 
commiserate their sufferings. 

In one particular, this voyage may stand as 
among the most remarkable on record. Perhaps 
I might be justified in calling it the most remarka- 
ble, without exception, of any in which American 
travellers have been concerned. No resolutions 
of thanks were offered to the captain. Of coui'se, 
we wished to offer them, and it was one of the 
painful deprivations of our lives to be compelled 
to abstain : but the obstacles were insurmountable. 
No resolutions worthy of the name could be com- 
passed in ten words of English ; and our inter- 
preter had only ten at our disposal, as I have 
more than once mentioned. As the skipper was 
a good skipper, we could not let him go wholly 
unrewarded ; and, resolutions being out of the 
question, we determined to offer him, as the next 
best thing, a small sum in addition to his stipu- 
lated payment. It was received in a manner 
which gave rise to doubts in my mind as to 
whether, in spite of a host of English and Ameri- 
can precedents, and notwithstanding the reams of 



148 Japanese Episodes. 

paper that have been exhausted in panegyric of 
Inman, Cunarcl, and Pacific Mail commanders, a 
practical endowment of this kind might not be 
more gladly received, as a universal rule, than 
the common offering of unmarketable rhetoric. 
Captains are captains, whatever their differences 
of station or color may be ; and I do not believe 
there is one of them that ever went down to the 
sea, who would not prefer an ounce of ''solid 
pudding" to a pound of ''empty praise." 



To Fuziyama and Bach. 149 



IX. 



The last half-hour of our passage was in com- 
paratively still water ; and, before we landed, 
everybody was in capital order again, and the crew 
once more became a tuneful nine. The comely 
young peasant, as I now believed him to be, grew 
very demonstrative, and handled a few ropes with 
a great deal of gallantry ; but the illusion was 
gone, and I knew him for a fraud. We disem- 
barked on a little isthmus of sand which makes 
Ye no Sima a peninsula, when the tide is low. We 
were now in a district* which is frequently visited 
by foreigners ; and learning that the inns of the 
town of Katase, upon the main island, were most 
commonly occupied, we allowed ourselves to be 
conducted to one of them. This was a mistake, 
as we afterward discovered ; Ye no Sima itself 
possessing far better accommodations. There is 
no more trustworthy rule of conduct, in travelling 
in the neighborhood of the foreign settlements of 
Japan, than to avoid the lodging-places generally 
patronized by Europeans. It is now an old story, 
but as true as it always has been ; that wherever 



150 Japanese Episodes, 

foreigners plant themselves, or circulate, upon the 
soil of Japan, demoralization and disaster spring 
up among the natives. They cannot even visit 
a summer-resort without spreading disorder and 
confusion. In proportion to our increasing dis- 
tance from Yokohama, we had found comfort, 
cleanliness, and refinement. As we drew near to 
it again, the reverse of the picture gradually began 
to show itself. Katase, we were told, at one time 
had tea-houses that were in no respect inferior to 
those of more distant towns. They were now 
defaced, dirty, ill-managed, and extortionate. 
Rudeness cannot be easily found in a Japanese 
tavern ; but here there was a kind of coarse fa- 
miliarity and boldness of demeanor, on the part of 
the attendants, that contrasted very unfavorably 
with what we had been used to for many days 
past. It needed no special quickness of observa- 
tion to trace this to foreign influence. The major- 
ity of those who have visited Katase are of a class 
whose vicious instincts might be held in restraint, 
by fear of the consequences of their indulgence, 
among their own people ; but who, when fairly 
outside of social surveillance, are under no control 
of delicacy or decency. Their excursions are little 
better than riots ; and their festivities are simply 
orgies, sometimes of the most brutal character. 



To Fuziyama and Bach. 151 

It happened to be Saturday night when we reached 
this place ; and we encountered parties in our own 
tea-house, and in others close at hand, that had 
come down from Yokohama to pass the Sunday, 
and the members of which were celebrating their 
arrival by thwacking the ' ' coolies ; ' * aggressively 
flourishing their sticks and whips ; flinging the 
female servants about, and handling them with 
revolting grossness ; and generally deporting 
themselves in a manner sufficiently offensive to 
the eyes of their own countrymen, and utterly 
abominable to a Japanese of any cultivation. 
The whole neighborhood had long before been 
almost abandoned by decent native tourists, and 
given up to strangers, with the result that we, in 
1870, witnessed and experienced. 

Ye no Sima justifies its name, as an island, at 
high water. And an island we found it, with the 
isthmus submerged to the depth of two feet, when 
we undertook to cross over to it in the morning. 
Under these circumstances, it can be reached 
only by the primitive method of bestriding the 
shoulders of a stalwart porter ; and porters are 
always abundant, and ready for the work. The 
Japanese appeared to find little difficulty in ac- 
commodating themselves to this mode of transit ; 
but for us, it was a dire operation. We were 



152 Japanese Episodes. 

anatomically so long, that we were obliged to lift 
our feet to an unnatural height to avoid wetting 
them. This destroyed the evenness of our bal- 
ance ; and we possessed no means of exhorting 
our carriers to grasp our knees, and steady us. 
We had nothing to lay hold of but their heads, 
which might have been serviceable, if they had 
been firm ; but their necks were as supple as 
swans', and yielded to each pressure in a manner 
which added to our peril, instead of fortifying us. 
Our struggles were like those of an imperfectly 
educated rope-dancer ; and we were all tremulous 
with the strange exertion, and, possibly, with 
trepidation, when we landed. We were able to 
calculate at once, with nice exactness, the length 
of time that the exploration of the island would 
require ; for we determined to limit the indulgence 
of our curiosity to the period of the lowest tidal 
ebb. One such experience was more, much more, 
than enough. 

The island is chiefly celebrated for the noble 
view of Fuziyama which it affords ; and, indeed, 
this takes rank among the finest scenic spectacles 
of Japan. But it has also, in itself, a number of 
notable attractions. Though small, it is lofty ; 
and, although the coast behind it is unusually 
level, it presents a precipitous and defiant front 



To Fuziyama and Back. 153 

to the open bay. Its rugged sides, riven by vol- 
canic convulsions, and channelled by the action of 
the waves, bear a close resemblance to the cliffs 
of Nahant, near Boston. At its outermost ex- 
tremity is the entrance to a cavern, which extends 
six hundred feet into the bowels of the rock, and 
the interior chambers of which are fitted up with 
altars and images, and used as shrines by Buddhist 
devotees. It is inaccessible, except at low tides ; 
yet the priests seldom forsake it, and continue 
their functions undisturbed, on the higher level 
of the recesses, while the opening is nearly or 
entirely stopped. The surface of Ye no Sima 
abounds in temples of more or less spacious 
dimensions, all of which are now sadly faded and 
decayed, although their legendary glory, in the 
mouths of their votaries, continues fair and un- 
diminished. 

The accidental misfortune of our arrival at this 
place on a Saturday night, plunging us, as it did, 
into the midst of a pandemonium of coarse foreign 
revelry, led to an abrupt change in the final dispo- 
sition of our route. It was so evident that the 
shore- roads to Yokohama would be overrun, on 
Sunday and Monday, with disorderly stragglers, 
that a consultation was held as to the expediency 
of renouncing the land entirely, and pursuing our 



154 Japanese Episodes, 

course in the same craft that had brought us from 
Odawara. There were undoubted objections, the 
principal being the deprivation of witnessing many 
wayside scenes of interest ; but these all gave 
way before the loathing excited by the prospect 
of too close contact with the graceless wretches 
who made the region hideous with their obscene 
excesses. Perhaps we regretted it later ; but the 
decision was taken and proclaimed, and on a fair 
Sunday morning we again set sail, this time on 
a perfectly tranquil sea, and gave the hours to 
re very and reminiscence, until the busy hum from 
Yokohama's active streets roused us to the labors 
of disembarkation. The day had just closed in a 
blaze of sunset-splendor such as can be witnessed 
only in the Japanese purity of atmosphere. The 
ba}^ was like a sheet of gold ; the distant moun- 
tains opposite, as they faded from sight, were 
touched with every tint of the rainbow ; the ships 
at anchor and the lazy pleasure-boats for a few 
moments lost their dull reality, and were trans- 
figured into glowing phantoms. In the midst of 
this brief and delicious twilight we stepped on 
shore, all alike inspired with a thankful sense 
of the marvellous friendly fortune that had thus 
attended our blithe excursion, from the very incep- 
tion, even to the moment of its genial ending. 



A JAPANESE STATESMAN AT 
HOME. 



OW it came about, that, in the autumn ol 
1870, a certain priestly edifice set apart 
for the requirements of the United States 
Legation in Japan, but long given over to neglect 
and dilapidation, was temporarily inhabited and 
vitalized by the republican consul then stationed 
at Tokio ; and how I, the present narrator, hap- 
pened to occupy it jointly with that most compan- 
ionable functionary, — I am not here called upon 
to relate. It is sufficient that we did take pos- 
session of the forsaken and well-nigh forgotten 
premises, and that with us, in pleasant commu- 
nity, went to dwell an engaging youth, whose 
father — an officer of exalted position in the Im- 
perial Government — had some time before con- 
signed him to the representative American's care, 
to enable the lad to acquire knowledge of such 
foreign customs as it might be desirable for him 

165 



156 Japanese Episodes, 

to understand before setting out upon a Western 
tour. He had not been with us man}^ da3^s, be- 
fore we began to recognize this little gentleman, 
Hirosawa Kenzo by name, as a genuine spirit of 
life and good cheer in the household. His bright- 
ness, his intelligence, and his unfailing good- 
humor always had a very genial and wholesome 
influence upon every person who was thrown in 
contact with him. I should hardly know where 
else to look for the same qualities of vivacity and 
gentleness, of exuberance and docility, which are 
almost invariably united in the youth of Japan. 
For these happy attributes, Kenzo was neither 
more nor less distinguished than others of his 
class ; but constant companionship natm^ally led 
us to value them especially in him. How much 
we were attached to him we did not ourselves 
know, until, a few months later, the calamity 
which darkened his young life touched us so 
deeply that we felt he had gained no common 
hold upon our regard.^ That merry autumn and 
winter at our temple of Zemfuku was crowded 
with lively incidents, in all of which our light- 
hearted associate had his share, and the recollec- 
tion of which tempts me to stray from the purpose 
of this brief chronicle, even before I have fairly 

1 His father was assassinated on the 27th of February, 1871. 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 157 

commenced it. But I resist. For this occasion, 
Master Kenzo must stand in the background ; 
while his father, the Japanese statesman, com- 
mands attention in his successive characters of 
guest and entertainer. 

AYe had not long been settled in the secluded 
district of Asabu, — of which Zemfuku is the 
centre, — when the consul, one of whose charac- 
teristics was a raging and uncontrollable spirit of 
hospitality, began to look about him for appro- 
priate victims. Having, in due course, captured 
and surfeited all the desirable foreigners within 
his grasp, he sighed, Alexanderwise, for new ap- 
petites to conquer. Why might he not, he pro- 
ceeded to reason, surround himself, from time to 
time, with native guests? A Japanese always 
enjoys a dinner, and a good host always enjoys 
the enjoyment of his companions. Conversation 
might be restricted ; but the mouth has other func- 
tions than those of vocal utterance, and he was 
at least certain that those with whom he could talk 
but little could console themselves by eating the 
more. The simple question then remaining was. 
Who should inaugurate the new system? Who, 
indeed, better than our young friend's father? 
It would possess some novelty for him, it would 
gratify Kenzo, and it would afford us the satis- 



158 Japanese Episodes. 

faction of finding our legs under the same board 
as those of a very lofty dignitary of the Mika- 
do's government. So Kenzo was despatched one 
morning, the bearer of a formal invitation, and 
returned to announce, with high glee, that his 
father would not fail to report hhnself on the 
appointed day, and that he would bring with him 
one of the interpreters of his office to enable us 
to flavor the material banquet, to some extent, 
with relishes of reason and condiments of soul. 
This having been so satisfactorily arranged, the 
consul's unquenchable fire of hospitality began to 
blaze afresh. He invented a set of reproaches, 
which he unsparingly applied to himself, for 
having neglected to invite some friend or ac- 
quaintance of Hirosawa Sama, to keep him in 
countenance, as it were, and to make him feel 
completely and in every way at his ease. Lucki- 
ly it was not too late. A swift yakunin was sent 
forthwith to learn if Sawa Sama, the head of the 
Japanese Foreign Office, would honor us with his 
presence, and so forth, and so forth. Oh, yes ! 
Mr. Sawa would be delighted to assist in the exe- 
cution of our prandial project. He also would 
bring an accomplished linguist of his staff to 
interpret to him the character and construction of 
the several dishes, lest, like the famous Boston 



A Japanese Statesman at Some. 159 

advocate, he should dilate with the wrong emotion. 
The party was then made up ; and I, at least, 
awaited the occasion with a vast deal of eager- 
ness, for until that time I had never been brought 
into close relations with any Japanese of high 
estate, and no better opportunity of appeasing my 
innocent curiosity could possibly have offered 
itself. 

Several hours of unusual labor on the part of 
all the servants attached to the establishment 
succeeded in imparting to the principal rooms of 
the mansion an aspect, which, though it could 
hardly be called brilliant or imposing, was cer- 
tainly a shade less lugubrious than that which they 
were accustomed to wear. For reasons which it 
is not necessary to expound, the United States 
Legation in Tokio had for years remained in a 
chronic condition of disorder ; and no temporary 
occupants, as we were, would be justified in bur- 
dening themselves with the cost of rendering the 
whole of it habitable. It was our custom, there- 
fore, to make use of only a limited portion. But 
on this occasion we felt stimulated to the effort 
of opening and putting to rights one or two extra 
apartments. The sliding-doors were thrown aside ; 
the dust of three ambassadorial regimes was ex- 
tirpated ; a few palsied chairs and tables were 



160 Japanese Episodes. 

invigorated by strings or nails ; and the cobweb 
which had for years cast a sinister shadow over 
the counterfeit presentment of President Pierce's 
countenance was brushed away. A couple of large 
braziers (called by the Japanese hi-bachi^ or fire- 
bowls) served the double purpose of augmenting 
the show of furniture, and diffusing a mild warmth. 
As we terminated the preparations by scattering 
around a profusion of illustrated literature, chiefly 
consisting of pictorial weeklies, a rattling of dis- 
tant screens, and a quick shuffling of feet along 
our matted corridors, announced the arrival of one 
of the guests. It was Sawa, miraculously ahead 
of the hour, — punctuality, as a rule, existing only 
in imagination among the Japanese, and, in then* 
minds, taking the place of procrastination, as the 
real thief of time. He came in the most radiant 
paraphernalia of his rank ; and, as he held an 
extremely high personal station in addition to his 
oflScial position, there was hardly any limit to the 
splendors with which he might adorn himself if 
it pleased him. He belonged to the class of 
kuges^ of whom there were less than two hundred 
altogether in Japan, and who stood next in degree 
to the members of the Mikado's own family. 
Though they were all comparatively poor men, 
the wealthiest and most powerful of the daimios 



A Japanese Statesman at Home, 161 

were compelled to acknowledge their superior 
state, and, upon occasion, to perform certain acts 
of homage before them,^ I cannot say whether 
the extreme vividness of his costume on this 
occasion was exceptional or not ; but, unless he 
had wrapped himself in a rainbow, he could not 
well have presented a more variegated appear- 
ance. His head was surmounted by the purple 
cap peculiar to state dress, and his feet were pro- 
tected by the lacquered shoes which none of 
lower rank than a kuge could wear. Between 
these two extremities he was an opalescent mass 
of white, green, and pink silk. Perhaps the most 
singular effect of color about him was produced 
by the principal aperture of his countenance. 
Until a recent period, it had been the custom for 
the kuge^ in common with all other noblemen 
attached especially to the Mikado's court, to 
blacken their teeth ; but, the practice having lately 
been abandoned, the interiors of their mouths 
exhibited a rich chocolate hue, which still remains, 
indeed, and will not disappear until time shall 
have gradually effaced the stains. In other re- 
spects he was simply a stalwart, hearty, and 
merry-faced gentleman of fifty, which is rather 
an advanced age for active life in Japan. 

1 In later years, kuges and daimios have been nominally blended 
In one order of nobility called kuwazoku. 



162 Japanese Episodes. 

Not long after Sawa's arrival, and while we 
were all interchanging complunents through Mr. 
Ishibashi, — the chief of the numerous and clever 
corps of interpreters in the government service, — 
a folding-door was suddenly pushed aside, and, 
without announcement of any kind, there strode 
in among us, with alert and graceful step, the 
stateliest and most commanding Japanese figure 
that I had ever seen. Nearly six feet tall, he 
seemed almost a giant beside those of his coun- 
trymen who surrounded him ; and the freedom of 
his movement and gestures was in striking con- 
trast with the somewhat rigid formality which 
Japanese gentlemen are apt to adopt at first 
interviews. Kenzo's face lighted up with boyish 
pride at the impression produced upon us ; and I 
was afterward led to suspect, sometimes, that 
quite as much of the admiration in which he held 
his father was bestowed upon his physical frame 
as upon his intellectual force. And it was not 
his massive stature alone that was calculated to 
attract attention. Another Eastern face so fine 
had not fallen within my observation. Portraits 
of him have since appeared in European periodi- 
cals ; but no engraving from a photograph could 
give any just idea of his true expression. I know 
that the likenesses taken by Japanese artists were 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 163 

wholly wanting in the animation of feature, and 
especially the lustre of the eyes, which particu- 
larly distinguished him. In lively humor and 
gay spirits he was a worthy rival of Sawa, and 
the capital terms upon which we all immediately 
found ourselves was evidence as strong of their 
determination to be pleased as of our desire to 
entertain them. Whatever possibilities of rare 
attire Hirosawa's office might confer upon him, 
he certainly did not avail himself of them. His 
dress was simple and quiet, though evidently of 
the finest fabrics. 

Hirosawa's career is not without interest to 
those who are curious in the study of Japanese 
politics ; and its tragic termination, not long after 
the slight incidents here related, showed the dan- 
' gers, that, in the disorganization of affairs which 
followed the Imperial Restoration of 1868, were 
apt to attend a rapid elevation to rank and power. 
Until his appointment to the post, in the central 
government, which he held at the time of his 
death, he had always been in the immediate ser- 
vice of the Daimio of Chosiu, one of the powerful 
southern nobles who combined some years before to 
destroy the ascendency of the hereditary TaikunSy 
and who succeeded in establishing, in the Mika- 
do's name, an administration of their own selec- 



164 Japanese Upisodes, 

tion. His talents and energy made him conspic- 
uous while he was quite young ; and, although not 
originally of very high rank, he speedily rose to 
the position of principal adviser and first execu- 
tive officer of his lord. Having won unbounded 
confidence by his ability and his devotion in this 
capacity, he was chosen to represent the interests 
of his master in the newly formed cabinet of 1868. 
All the daimios who had been active in bringing 
about the revolution sent their ablest retainers to 
maintain their influence at the seat of govern- 
ment, if not to participate in the government 
itself ; and it was admitted that none of them 
was better served than Hirosawa's fortunate 
chief. The zealous retainer received at the age 
of about thirty- eight the rank and title of sangi^ 
which is the highest that any Japanese not nobly 
born can hope to attain,^ and was appointed a 
member of the Dai Jo Kuivan^ or principal board 
of government. All this we knew by well- authen- 
ticated report ; but that his prestige was so great, 
and his influence so vast, as to render his exist- 
ence a perpetual peril, we did not at that time 
imagine. 

1 The highest during life. Posthumous titles of more exalted 
meaning are sometimes conferred. 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 165 



IL 



The dinner, I am happy to say, was a success. 
I confess that I had viewed some of the prepara- 
tions with apprehension ; and the array of varying 
courses decreed by the head of our famil}^ had 
struck me as being dangerously long and ponder- 
ous. Excess in such matters is scarcely less to 
be feared than insufficiency. Does not one of the 
first of English critics admit that he could never 
have finished reading the "Faery Queen," if it 
had come down to him completed? And what 
playgoer, however enthusiastic, would tolerate 
"Hamlet" in ten acts? As far as banquets are 
concerned, I have seen more than one the exor- 
dium of which promised brilliantly, but which, 
through inordinate multiplication of superfluous 
dishes, never reached a suitable peroration. It 
was well, however, that a maturer experience than 
mine had the regulation of this matter. "When 
I remonstrated, the consul, quoting a phrase 
which was famous in "VYashington j^ears ago, simply 
said, "The sequel will demonstrate." And so 
it did. It demonstrated the accuracy of his fore- 



166 Japanese Episodes. 

sight, and, at the same time, the immense diges- 
tive superiority of the Japanese over that of any 
foreign nation whose alimentary processes have 
fallen under my observation. The pageant was 
as far as you can imagine from insubstantial ; but 
it melted and dissolved and faded as if it had 
been nothing better than the baseless fabric of a 
Barmecide's feast. It is true that the merit of 
the meal fully justified its quick consumption. 
The Japanese cooks are preternaturally skilful ; 
and ours, who had made himself master of cu- 
linary arts under the training of a Frenchman, 
was conceded to stand at the crowning point of 
his craft. But, for all that, when it was over, 
my e^^es were fixed upon the not abnormally dis- 
tended bodies of our guests with an amazement 
similar to that experienced by the children of the 
'-'• Deserted Village " in contemplating their teach- 
er's head : — 

*^ And still I gazed, and still the wonder grew/' etc. 

To this day it is a mystery to me how they con- 
trived, while eating so much and so rapidly, to 
talk as volubly as they did. The conversation 
rattled incessantl3^ The poor interpreters had 
the hardest part of the work to do ; and I confess 
to a suspicion, that on one or two occasions, when 



A Japanese Statesman at Home, . 167 

some particularly palatable plate was served, the 
eminent Sawa wilfully and maliciously threw out 
an extremely difficult remark to be translated, and 
thus prevented the luckless linguists from- enjoy- 
ing their full share. Did I formally introduce the 
interpreters? They were, first, with the Kuge^ 
Mr. Ishibashi, altogether the most fluent English- 
speaking native now in the employment of the 
government ; and, second, with the Sangi^ Mr. 
Tanaka, attached to the Treasury Department. 
I give each of them the title of ''Mr." because, 
like most of their countrymen, they take very 
kindly to that prefix, applying it not only to them- 
selves, but rather indiscrimately to everybody of 
whom they have occasion to speak. At this very 
dinner, Tanaka had ever so much to say about the 
machinations and recent misfortunes of one whom 
he persisted in calling "Mr. Napoleon." But, 
notwithstanding here and there a trivial error of 
this sort, both these gentlemen certainly managed 
their part of the general colloquy with extraor- 
dinary ease and exactitude. The amount of in- 
formation upon current American and European 
topics, which they contrived to extract and re- issue 
for their chiefs, was hardly less remarkable than 
the quantity of food disposed of. On the other 
hand, they declared themselves entirely ready to 



168 Japanese Episodes. 

give us any intelligence we might desire about their 
own country ; and although it is considered the 
correct thing by most foreigners to discredit the 
word of a Japanese on all points, and especially 
upon subjects relating to the internal affairs of 
the nation, I have no doubt they were sincere 
enough. For my own part, I have found very 
little reluctance among these people to speak about 
themselves. Their want of knowledge is com- 
monly mistaken for diplomatic reticence ; and their 
professions of ignorance are set down as straight- 
forward falsehoods. It is, however, a fact, that 
few Japanese are familiar with the history, or 
even the geography, of any part of their islands 
excepting that to which they individually belong. 
The political conditions of the country have al- 
ways been unfavorable to the acquisition, or rather 
the diffusion, of any such information ; and, in- 
deed, their system of education has virtually for- 
bidden it. One illustration of a willingness to 
discuss what might indeed be considered as among 
their state secrets occurred quite aptly. Sawa re- 
lated, and apparently, from the mirth he inspired, 
with a good deal of humor, how, on that same 
morning, Hirosawa had come down from the Dai 
Jo Kuican to the Foreign OflSce, had confronted 
and opposed the entire body of foreign ministers, 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 169 

himself included, upon a question of external 
policy, and, after a prolonged discussion, had 
carried his measures, single-handed, and brought 
them all around to his way of thinking. And 
nothing could have been more delightful than to 
witness, during the narration, the contrast between 
the deprecatory ejaculations of the flattered Sangi, 
and the belying twinkle of satisfaction in his eye. 
There were, indeed, many other amusing things 
to observe besides the avidity of intellectual and 
physical appetite which the guests displayed. 
Not the least of these was the watchful solicitude 
with which Hirosawa regulated his movements by 
our own. Sawa had long been familiar with for- 
eign tables. He was at one period governor of 
Nagasaki, and there became quite dexterous in 
the employment of knives, forks, and spoons. 
But our other friend could not yet manipulate 
them with sufficient expertness to enable him to 
feel wholly satisfied with himself. He was even 
shy of his napkin, and would not unfold it until 
he had seen the host remove his own from its 
place upon the table. And he busied, himself 
solely with bread a considerable time before ven- 
turing upon any experiments with cutlery. After 
he had assured himself by intelligent scrutiny, 
however, he soon caught up with his better in- 



170 Japanese Episodes. 

structed companion ; but he was still on the alert 
to detect new points, and furtively scanned us all 
before committing himself to any serious opera- 
tion, such as helping himself to mustard, or dis- 
secting a chicken-wing. Kenzo was not displeased 
at being able to distance his father in this one 
particular, and exhibited his prowess by an am- 
plitude of action and a redundancy of gesture 
altogether out of his usual course. So we had 
abundance of entertainment on our side, in return 
for that we were able to bestow ; and right sor- 
rowful were both of us when the repast came to 
its termination. At an hour which would else- 
where be considered early, — about eight o'clock, 
— our new friends declared their determination to 
withdraw ; and a few minutes later they had passed 
through their kneeling retinue at the door, and 
were winding their way through our avenues, 
torch-lighted, like a line of twinkling ignes-fatui ; 
the most conspicuous object being Sawa's gigan- 
tic umbrella, some six feet high, with a plethoric 
paper lantern perched upon its tip like a huge 
glow-worm, and throwing a ruddy ray over the 
whole of the retiring procession. 

A month later we received a request from Hiro- 
sawa Sangi to accept the same courtesy in his 
house that he had enjoyed in ours. I think that 



A Japanese Statesman at Home, 171 

was about the way in which it was put, although 
the rhetorical involutions employed have entirely 
escaped my memory. In delivering this invita- 
tion, Master Kenzo let fall a hint that his father 
proposed to have a dinner prepared for us accord- 
ing to our own methods ; but Mr. Consul, who man- 
aged to fit his humor very neatly into the crevices 
of the Japanese mind, crushed out that project 
by sending back a message, that, if we found a 
foreign repast awaiting us at Hirosawa's house, 
Hirosawa should certainly have a pure Japanese 
feast the next time he should come to us. Logic 
like this was unanswerable : so we received prompt 
assurance that we should encounter nothing but the 
genuine and unembellished tabe-mono of Tokio. 

Accordingly, on a bright and comfortable De- 
cember afternoon (December does not mean winter 
in the American or European sense of that frigid 
word) , we started in procession from the Lega- 
tion ; our little Japanese friend and I occupying 
norimono^ which were then the only popular con- 
veyance in Japan, and the consul perched more 
loftily on horseback. In advance and at our rear 
stretched the body-guards which the government 
considered itself bound to provide on all occasions, 
not only for foreign officials, but also for visitors 
of every degree. To those who relish a certain 



172 Japmiese Episodes, 

sort of pomp and circumstance, their constant 
attendance was no doubt a gratification. To all 
others, among whom I beg to include myself, they 
were rather embarrassing and oppressive encum- 
brances, although, on the whole, as amiable and 
obliging a class of young officers as could any- 
where be found. I, for one, was never able to 
overcome my sense of the absurdity of being 
' ' under protection " in a community against which 
no protection was needed ; and I was always wor- 
ried by a conviction, that, beneath the smiling 
countenances of the citizens, there might be hidden 
a sneer at the pusillanimous strangers, who, so far 
as they could know, never ventured abroad unless 
surrounded by an armed police-force, and whose 
apparent excessive precautions must have seemed 
singularly ludicrous among a population where 
aggressive behavior and unprovoked violence were 
ahnost unknown. But the government had its 
reasons, no doubt ; and, after all, the companion- 
ship of yakunins was not really a very heavy 
burden of discomfort.^ On the afternoon in ques- 

^ The attendance of guards was dispensed with in 1872, through 
circumstances which I had some hand in shaping. They had heen 
necessary up to that time in consequence of the frequent false alarms 
raised by foreigners, whose absurd inventions were eagerly used to 
disadvantage of the government. With guards as witnesses, their 
wild stories could not always be made effective. 



A Jajjanese Statesman at Home, 173 

tion, they were, for a marvel, actually of some 
service, — pointing out a new and recently opened 
road through the castle-grounds, which none of 
us had ever traversed before. 



174 Japanese Episodes, 



III. 



In due time we reached our destination, ■ — a 
neat and substantial mansion of the class occu- 
pied usually by all high government officials, and 
by daimios of secondary rank. There is little 
exterior display in any of the Tokio residences : 
even the yasJiikis of the wealthiest nobles, those 
whose annual rice revenues, under the old regime^ 
were equivalent to millions of dollars, being dis- 
tinguished only by their vast extent, and by a 
somewhat massive, though not especially impos- 
ing, wooden gateway. Hirosawa's house was situ- 
ated on the most elevated ground which the city 
contains, — upon the hill known as Kudan, just 
outside the inner moat and wall of the Mikado's 
castle, and facing a broad common, part of which 
is used as the public race-course. It is a fair 
type, in exterior, of the dwelling-places of gen- 
tlemen of advanced, though not of the highest, 
station. A simple but curiously constructed wall, 
of tiles cemented by clay, some twelve feet high, 
serves the same purpose of concealment as the 
ungainly piles of brick which screen so many 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 175 

well-known London houses from public view. 
The portal, when opened, is amply spacious, and 
forms a sort of frame for an interior picture, 
which is by no means unattractive. A well- 
paved and scrupulously clean courtyard is sur- 
rounded on every side by low-roofed edifices, in 
all of which the sweeping curves of Eastern archi- 
tecture are prominent, and which are profusely 
adorned with skilfully executed, though often 
grotesque, carvings and other ornamentation. At 
its farther end is a large open vestibule, the steps 
and floor of which are polished like mirrors, and 
from the dim corners of which we see numberless 
passages leading to various parts of the extensive 
establishment. From one of these, as we ap- 
proach, our host emerges, wafting eloquent ges- 
ticulations of welcome, and beaming with smiles, 
in a manner calculated to weaken faith in the 
value of all verbal greetings. Throngs of retain- 
ers linger, remote and shadowy, in the receding 
corridors ; but by his side stands a brisk little gen- 
tleman, whom we presently discover to be an old 
acquaintance named Yegawa, another of the inex- 
haustible corps of interpreters controlled by the 
government. Through him conversational rela- 
tions are forthwith established ; his brisk, electric 
manner suggesting magnetic communication in 



176 Japanese Episodes. 

more than one way. Duly removing our shoes, — 
for the floors of every Japanese house, let alone 
that of a sangi^ might stand for emblems of per- 
fect purity, — we thread a series of matted halls, 
emerging, after a while, into a comfortable sort 
of reception-room, through the open outer doors 
of which one of the most charming little garden 
scenes imaginable is Adsible. Here it becomes 
our duty to exchange the salutations of the day. 
Seating ourselves with more or less ease and 
grace upon the floor, we converse, not rapidly or 
brilliantly perhaps, but with most determined and 
persistent courtesy. The forms being new to 
me, I discreetly leave the burden of this pre-* 
liminary flourishing to my consul, and watch with 
amazement and delight the complimentary game 
of " give and take " which ensues. The Oriental 
principle, in introductory courtesies of this sort, 
appears to be akin to one with which professors 
of that wily Western sport, ''poker," may per- 
haps be more familiar than other representatives 
of a younger civilization, — the principle of " see- 
ing " your friendly antagonist, and "going one 
better." The illustration is not refined, but it is 
apt. Let us look for an instant at a fragment of 
this crescendo dialogue, with its Ossa of suavity 
piling upon Pelion of politeness, and with, from 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. Ill 

beginning to end, a vista like that of Pope's trav- 
eller, of '' Alps on Alps " of swelling and ascend- 
ing compliment. It must be short ; for such 
things, however skilfully maintained, cannot last 
for more than a limited period, and, if undul}' 
prolonged, would perish from their own inflation, 
like a gorgeous soap-bubble, the thinness of the 
material having no power to resist the unnatural 
distension beyond a certain strain. 

THE coisrsuL a;n^d the SANGI. 

BRIEF COMEDY OF MANNERS. 

The Consul C. O. S. 

The Sangi H. H. 

The Interpreter Y. 

Silent Observers . . . H. K. and E. H. H. 

The Consul. — We hope that Hirosawa Hiosuke has 
enjoyed excellent health since we last saw him. 

The Sang I. — We have always hoped that the Ameri- 
can Consul's health has been perfect, and are now filled 
with joy to find that it is so. 

The Consul. — We have never ceased to remember 
Mr. Hirosawa' s visit with feelings of satisfaction and 
deliglit. 

The Sangi. — We are flattered that you have taken 
the trouble to come so far to return our visit ; but we 
cannot expect that our humble attractions will enable 
you to enjoy yourselves here as we enjoyed ourselves 
with you. 



178 Japanese Episodes. 

The Consul. — We hope that Mr. Hirosawa will not 
wait again for formal invitations, but that in future he 
will come to lunch or dine at Zemfuku-ji at any time 
that it may suit him, according to hiis o^n conven- 
ience. 

The Sangi. — If Mr. Consul and his friend should 
ever find themselves in the neighborhood of Hirosawa' s 
house, they must also make their way in without cere- 
mony, or he shall feel justly aggrieved. 

The Consul {playing the full force of his hand), — In 
fact, nothing could please us better, if such a thing were 
possible, than to see Mr. Hirosawa sitting beside us, 
with his excellent son, every day and evening. 

The Sangi (over-reaching his friendly opponent with a 
confident '' calV^). — Truly, if this house were suited to 
the comfort of foreigners, I would insist that both of 
you make your home henceforward here, with myself and 
my unworthy family. [Pause, with affecting business of 
bowing and hand-shaking.] 

The Consul (attempting a diversion). — Nothing could 
be more charming than the situation of Mr. Hirosawa' s 
mansion, or prettier than his garden. 

The Sangi. — The grounds of Zemfuku-ji are singu- 
larly beautiful, and far superior to those of any residence 
occupied by Japanese. 

The Consul. — Mr. Hirosawa has certainly shown 
extraordinary skill in decorating every part of his estab- 
lishment. Outside and inside, it is a series of pictures. 

The Sangl — Since we visited your abode, we have 
endeavored to improve our own by availing ourselves of 
the recollections of the perfect taste and refinement we 
saw there, and arranging our apartments accordingly. 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 179 

[A second pause, the consul ^'throioing up Jiis hand,^^ as 
it 10 ere, in utter despair of " raising " the last remark.] 

The Consul.. — Mr. Hirosawa will be glad to know 
tliat his son is improving in his English studies every- 
day. 

The Sangi. — That is solely in consequence of your 
kind attention in directing them. 

The Consul. — Certainly not. He is remarkably 
quick and intelligent, and learns with truly surprising 
rapidity. 

The Sangi. — All of which he gains directly from the 
quickness, the intelligence, and the rapidity of acquire- 
ment which distinguish his scholarly American friends. 
[Prolonged pause, and indications of exhaustion on one 
side. Renewed bowing and hand-shaking, after which 
ex. om, into the garden.] 

The garden, or series of gardens, was not 
large, but was arranged with the usual ingenuity 
of the Japanese, and, most of the trees being 
evergreens, presented an extremely attractive 
appearance, although it was mid-winter. The 
various artificial ponds were all hidden by thick 
coverings of straw, placed there, we were told, to 
protect the fish from the cold, though upon what 
fanciful theory we were not given to understand. 
At the end of the enclosure we were introduced 
to a miniature pagoda, two stories in height, the 
upper chamber of which was a favorite resort of 
the statesman. From its windows, not only the 



180 Japanese Episodes. 

best part of Tokio was visible, — the gTound 
being, as I have said, the highest in the city, — 
but the peak of Fuziyama, now a glittering, • 
blinding prism of snow, stood in distinct view. 
This spectacle, indeed, is especially cherished by 
all who live within a radius of a hundred miles 
of the beautiful mountain. Especially in Tokio 
it is the creed that " no gentleman's house should 
be without it ; " and I really believe it is rather 
on this account, than for any sanitary reasons, 
that dwelling-places upon the hills of the capital, 
however small their dimensions, are more eagerly 
coveted than the most spacious yashikis of tlie 
lowlands. 

While we gazed and admired, a somewhat 
anachronistic species of refreshment was brought 
to us, consisting of jellies so rich and sweet as to 
be calculated, one would suppose, to impair our 
appetite for the more important repast that was 
to follow, and tea of a rare and superlatively 
fragrant quality, carefully prepared, we were 
told, not with boiling, or even hot, but only luke- 
warm water, it being believed by many that the 
flavors of the very finest teas can only thus be 
preserved. Master Kenzo considerately informed 
us that we need not feel ourselves bound to eat 
much of the unctuous dish, if we preferred wait- 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 181 

ing a little longer for dinner, — a permission 
which his father ratified with a smile, and of 
which we accordingly availed ourselves. AYe 
began to observe, about this time, that most of 
the immediate provisions for our entertainment 
were in some sort under Kenzo's direction ; the 
head of the family looking down from a height 
of great good nature upon the youngster's various 
artifices and expedients. I think that one of the 
most remarkable characteristics of the Japanese 
is the tender indulgence lavished by them upon 
their children, and the reciprocal respect and de- 
votion which they receive. There seems to be 
no s^^stem of discipline or training, as we under- 
stand it, or profess to understand it, among them. 
Throughout all classes, high and low alike, the 
treatment of the young is almost extravagantly 
affectionate and considerate. I do not remember 
ever to have seen one of their children punished 
with violence. And yet I should not know where 
to look elsewhere for equal good temper and 
docility. It has seemed to me that the early ad- 
mission of children to intimate and confidential 
association with their parents, and the frank 
interchange of ideas and feelings in which they 
are encouraged, give an ease and an early de- 
velopment which act with equal good for all. 



182 Japanese Episodes. 

Certainly there is a great deal of natural dignity 
and manliness about the young lads, without any 
departure — at least, so far as a stranger can ob- 
serve — from the modesty and simplicity, which, 
in their family relations, become them so well. 

Not very long after the tea- and- jelly episode, 
there came to us, from a part of the mansion 
which we had not yet visited, an attendant of 
second or third rank, who, with prodigality of 
smiles and profusion of obeisances, delivered 
what even our unaccustomed ears knew to be the 
summons to the chief ceremony of the day. We 
gently sighed in unison, — that little hypocritical 
sigh, familiar wherever civilization has reached 
the point of '' dining out," and which, I sup- 
pose, in New York, London, Tokio, perhaps the 
Fiji Islands, alike, is meant to hide the happiness 
that springs within us under an aifectation of 
regret that the delights of conversation are thus 
rudely interrupted by the abrupt appeal to our 
grosser natures. In that sigh I discovered a 
new link in the chain of social sympathy that 
binds the East and the West together. But we 
turned without delay, and were promptly mar- 
shalled to our ultimate destination, — as neat and 
dainty a refectory as any pair of deftly-decorated 
Parisian folding-doors could disclose, although it 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 183 

shone out upon us through nothing more impos- 
ing than a couple of half -opened sliding-screens. 
Evening was drawing near ; and the interior was 
illuminated with hanging-lanterns, and also with 
a single lamp of foreign device, to which an entire 
alcove was especially devoted. The light at first 
was purposely dim ; but we could see that the 
walls were hung with a number of the delicate 
and ingenious paintings upon silk which form so 
important a part of the embellishment of every 
distinguished Japanese household, and which 
here, as elsewhere, variously represented flowers, 
fruits, or animals of the country, with occasion- 
ally a mytho-historical sketch, in which the heroic 
and the grotesque were indistinguishably blended. 
Exquisite frescos and bass-reliefs, some sketched, 
some wrought in elaborate lacquer-ware and 
gilded bronze, adorned the little doors that 
conceal the innumerable cupboards and pigeon- 
holes which abound, and from the prevalence of 
which in all Japanese houses, it might fairly be 
imagined that secretiveness was the ruling passion 
of the race. Odd corners, again, were filled with 
quaint images and statues of great age and rarity ; 
and the floricultural fancies of the host were 
shown by the pleasure with which he called 
attention to a few curious exotics, most of them 



184 Japanese Episodes, 

brought, he told us, from China. To all of these 
we paid due attention ; but it is useless to conceal 
that our minds were chiefly fixed upon the neat 
table, surrounded by five inviting chairs, which 
stood in the centre of the room, and which, 
though bearing for the moment nothing more 
suggestive than a snowy cloth, we glanced at with 
some impatience, knowing it to be the stage upon 
which a new and unknown species of epigastric 
drama was presently to be enacted for our enter- 
tainment. In this matter of the table and chairs, 
it must be said, Hirosawa had evaded his promise 
to us. Such effeminacies are unknown in genuine 
Japanese repasts ; but we were assured that the 
recognition of foreign forms would go no farther, 
and that the Oriental integrity of our food should 
be absolutely above suspicion. So we offered no 
protest, and disposed ourselves as requested ; the 
host expressing a courteous regret that his wife 
and other members of his family were visiting 
their native province, and therefore could not 
join us. Probably he meant what he said ; al- 
though I believe that very few Japanese men of 
rank were at that date quite suflSciently en rapport 
with foreigners to bring the gentler part of their 
households into close and free communication 
with them. 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 185 



IV. 



Dusky forms are seen kneeling upon the mats 
of many surrounding apartments ; but they do 
not gaze upon us curiously, nor do they, indeed, 
appear vividly conscious of our presence. They 
are, we discover, simply men-in-waiting. Five 
of them rise, thread their way noiselessly among 
their fellows, and speedily return, bearing each a 
small tray containing our first course. The little 
dishes are all precisely alike, and are arranged 
identically. We mutually bow and simper, split 
our chopsticks apart, ^ and set to work, — our 
Japanese friends with ease and vigor, we some- 
what hesitatingly, and not without misgivings as 
to our ability to turn the unaccustomed utensils 
to proper account. In fact, it rapidly becomes 
apparent that the sense of our hands of little 
employment is so excessively dainty, that, unless 
we invoke instruction, we shall be able to make 
no way at all. Frankness being absolutely neces- 
sary, we make a great virtue of it, and declare, 

1 Courtesy and cleanliness alike demand, in Japan, that chopsticks 
be brought to a guest united at one end, like matches. This proves 
that they can never have been previously used. 



186 Japanese Episodes. 

with perhaps needless vehemence, that it really is 
useless, and that, after all, we cannot do it, and 
that we must throw ourselves upon the considera- 
tion of our host, because we shall certainly starve 
unless we are told how to proceed. Candor begets 
candor ; and our beaming entertainer, just as if 
he were announcing a hitherto unsuspected fact, 
and as if we had not marked and enjoyed it all 
at the time, observes that he found hhuself in the 
same awkward position when he dined with us. 
And here Master Yegawa, the interpreter, devel- 
ops himself in the quality of a humorist. As one 
of us is struggling hopelessly with his slender 
sticks, which seem to have an independent activity 
of their own, darting themselves anywhere but 
in the direction aimed at by their holder, and frus- 
trating almost every effort to project them mouth- 
ward, Yegawa proffers counsel. "Imitate me," 
he says, and begins picking and pecking bits of 
food of all sizes with an accuracy of movement 
almost mechanical. As if anybody could imitate 
him offhand ! The result of the first endeavor to 
do so is a consul strewn with Japanese edibles. 
" No, no ! " says Yegawa with steel- trap smart- 
ness. " I said, ' Imitate me ; ' but you never saw 
me do that. You are wrong. Excuse me ; but 
you are wholly wrong, and always will be wrong 



A Japanese Statesman at Home, 187 

unless you do as I do ; " which, of course, excites 
a proper amount of innocent mirth, for we are 
in the mood to be merry, and easily moved to 
laughter. But presentl}^, although we cannot 
twu'l our sticks with any thing like the amazing 
rapidity of our tutors, we contrive to serve our- 
selves after a certain complex method of our own, 
and are enabled to ascertain the quality of what 
is set before us. First, we explore the contents 
of a lacquered bowl, which contains a delicate 
soup spiced with seaweed and aromatic herbs. 
It is weak, but otherwise commendable. Other 
dishes are constructed, with curious fancy and 
singular ingenuity, to represent miniature gardens 
with mounds and ponds, or fortresses with turrets 
and moats ; the effects of landscape and architec- 
ture being produced by skilful arrangement of 
thin slices of fish or vegetables, and variously 
colored rice. Each plate is a little picture. I 
observe, that although preserved fruits, boiled 
chestnuts, bamboo-shoots, and other partly orna- 
mental and partly appetizing condiments are scat- 
tered about, the substance of this course is rice 
and raw fish. Raw fish ! I distinctly recall a 
series of thrilling emotions during the first battle- 
scene at which it was ever my fortune to assist ; 
and I know it is on record in the annals of Fran- 



188 Japanese Episodes. 

conia that I, personally, once crossed the tree that 
spans the Flume ; I once went up in a balloon, 
though not very far ; and I have passed a night 
on a peak in Formosa, surrounded by hostile can- 
nibals : these all were memorable sensations. But 
now, confronting and confronted by raw fish as 
an article of diet, I learn the full depth, breadth, 
and vastness of meaning in the word '' cour- 
age," and gain a new interpretation of a phrase 
which I have often lightly used, but never until 
now completely grasped and understood, — ^'true 
physical and moral heroism.'' Shall it be done? 
Can it be done? It must be done ! 'Tis done ! 
And is it utterly revolting and untenable ? Hardly 
so. Do I like it, then ? Truly, not too well ; but 
I willingly admit it might be worse, especially as 
it is deftly mitigated by pungent soy. I do not 
know its name ; but it is like salmon in aspect, 
and in taste like nothing in my particular prior 
experience. It is soft and gelatinous ; and, after 
all, the flavor of the thick sauce with which it is 
enriched is perhaps prevalent above every thing 
else. The struggle once well over, I feel that I 
have encountered boldly, and conquered bravely. 
No future possibilities have any terror for me ; 
nor is there any further occasion for such uncom- 
fortable emotion. This preliminary course having 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 189 

been partly, and only partly, disposed of, Japan- 
ese hospitality supplying at least three times as 
much of every article as is intended to be eaten, 
five other servitors shoot from their spheres, and, 
after briskly clearing the table, produce another 
assortment of finely wrought lacquer-ware and 
porcelain dishes, containing, this time, a thick 
broth not unlike a Massachusetts chowder, com- 
pounded of fish, prawns, small slices of chickens, 
and sundry vegetables, with subordinate plates of 
spices, confectionery, and innumerable piquant 
stimulants to appetite, which I could hardly dis- 
tinguish at the time, and which I certainly cannot 
now remember in detail. Successive courses, each 
introduced apparently by five fresh attendants, — 
the extraordinary number of which led us almost 
to think that Hirosawa must have borrowed his 
Lord of Chosiu's retinue for the occasion, — made 
us acquainted with still other varieties of soups, 
and with endless changes of composite pot-pour- 
ris^ which it is very fortunately unnecessary to 
enumerate, because it is impossible. It may be 
recorded, however, that no less than thirteen times 
the spaces before us were cleared away and re- 
filled, each change being distinguished by some 
new form of sparkling fluid, — beer, champagne, 
soda-water, I can't say what not. The partiality 



190 Japanese Episodes, 

of the Japanese for all liquors of a bubbling and 
effervescent character is remarkable. The foam 
of ale to them is ecstasy, and the froth of cham- 
pagne is rapture. It is not the quality of the 
draught, but the " fizz," that engages their fancy. 
I have actually and positively known a party of 
Japanese yakunins to take with them upon a long 
country excursion a quantity of Seidlitz, which 
they mixed with sugar and water, and drank as a 
luxurious beverage. Thirteen times, as I have 
observed, we were called upon to practically honor 
our entertainer's bounty ; and then, just when a 
dark despair and dread began to hover over us, 
we were relieved by a courtly apology for the 
meagreness of the repast, accompanied by a 
regretful apprehension that we had not enjoyed 
sufficient cheer. And here began another act of 
that fine impromptu comedy, examples of which 
I have given above, the theme this time beiug the 
respective merits of American and Japanese din- 
ners, which was only interrupted by the entrance 
of five new tray-bearers (I'll swear they were 
entirely new, and had not before appeared) , with 
pots of charmingly fresh and fragrant tea, and 
little cases containing native tobacco and the tiny 
pipes of the countr3^ It was all over ; and, 
metaphorically, we breathed more freely, although 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 191 

in simple fact it was difficult for us to breathe at 
all. 

"All over." Yes, as far as the material part 
of the entertainment was concerned ; but there 
was yet one rare aesthetic luxury in store. A 
wave of the hand from the host, and a set of fold- 
ing-screens, unclosed till now, is moved aside, 
revealing a score of the bright and pretty dan- 
cing girls known as geishas^ whose vocation it is 
to attend public or private festivals, and charm 
the eye and ear with their saltatory and musical 
accomplishments. A dozen of these advance, and 
take their places for action ; while the others 
supply an instrumental and vocal accompaniment. 
The particular ballet first executed has few com- 
plications, and little animation, judged by a West- 
ern standard. The coryphees confine themselves 
principally to four steps, — forward, with a half- 
tm-n to the right, again forward, with a similar 
turn, again the same movement, and once again ; 
the last bringing them into precisely their original 
positions. This is repeated a rather surfeiting 
number of times, and is varied only occasionally 
by a sudden stoop, the right knee touching the 
floor, and the bare foot of the left leg darting 
forth horizontally, and disclosing itself in a mo- 
mentaiy pink flash. The monotony is relieved, 



192 Japanese Episodes, 

however, by the active expression of the faces, 
and the peculiar curving and gesticulation of the 
twenty-four arms rising and falling and sweeping 
through the air with harmonious regularity. The 
fact that the arm of the Japanese gei-sha is a 
thing of beauty is recognized and recorded. Next 
in order are solos, all by the youngest half-dozen 
of the party. Of these, the "fan-dance," with 
copious recitative, — incomprehensible, of course, 
— and a vast deal of pantomimic action, shows 
the various coquettish uses to which that indispen- 
sable article of toilet may be applied. Wielded 
by a Japanese adept, the fan is far more com- 
prehensive in its capabilities than even a Spanish 
senora would make it. It has a vocabulary of its 
own, a telegraphy for every phase of flirtation, — 
warning, remonstrance, defiance, invitation, ac- 
quiescence, and all the rest, from the shy exordiiun 
to the yielding end, — each shade of meaning 
said to be well defined, and clear to apprehension. 
The fan-dance is an interesting etude de moeurs. 
It is followed by others, which prove how thor- 
oughly mere bodily motion may serve, upon oc- 
casion, for the communication of ideas. Here is 
exhibited a living panorama of Japanese exist- 
ence, — pastoral, mechanical, martial, marine, 
high-life, and low-life, in their different stages. 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 193 

As a termination to the whole, the famous jan- 
kina is announced. This is a dance and a game 
of forfeits combined ; and from the start it is 
evident that the stately formality of the earlier 
performances has been dismissed for good and 
all. The participants begin by moving briskly in 
circles to a well-marked but unvarying measure, 
singing merrily at the same time, and watching 
each other with a keenness, which for a while it is 
difficult for the strangers to understand. Gradu- 
ally they betray an unexpected ardor ; they grow 
excited, their song is louder, and their motions 
are more energetic. Suddenly a single girdle is 
unwound, and tossed into a corner, the dance 
proceeding without interruption. It then appears 
that the sport involves proceedings of the ' ' f ol- 
low-my-leader " sort, and that any deviation from 
the routine is punished by the confiscation of an 
article of dress. Girdles, naturally, go first. In 
a few minutes they are all in a pile upon the floor, 
and the released garments flow more freely, none 
the less so, as the movements increase in wildness 
and celerity. Presently, a sleeve is snatched away^, 
and the upper silken robe falls from one side, and 
hangs only by the opposite shoulder. As yet, 
there is no cause for alarm, since an imder-waist 
of red crape continues to interpose. But am I 



194 Japanese Episodes. 

bound to go on, and tell how far these eccentric 
quadrilles, with their laws of forfeiture from which 
there is no appeal, are carried ? Decidedly, I am 
not so bound. I pass rapidly to the close. The 
musicians cast down their instruments, and join 
in the finish. A last exaction of penalties, a final 
flourish of white arms, a quick crescendo of voices, 
a sudden, sharp cry, arresting every member of 
the corps with instantaneous abruptness, a brief 
suggestion of halls of antique statuary, and the 
Japanese jon-ldna is ended. 

Conversation of a somewhat languid nature 
ensued ; photographic albums were inspected and 
discussed, — imagine, in the year 1870, a collec- 
tion of family and national photograph albums in 
the mansion of a Tokio official, and all the pic- 
tures (views of rare scenery, portraits of eminent 
officers of state and lofty nobles, and the like) 
produced by native artists ! — the curiosities of 
the various apartments were once more inspected, 
until at last the time arrived for us to take up our 
longish journey homeward. The parting saluta- 
tions were strictly American, as far as we, the 
inhabitants of Zemfuku-ji, were concerned, but 
very Oriental as between our host and his inter- 
preter. First putting on their swords with great 
formality, they swiftly dropped upon their knees, 



A Japanese Statesman at Home, 195 

and bent their foreheads to the ground repeatedly ; 
and, while they thus bade one another farewell 
within doors, the innumerable attendants of the 
household and our guards performed the same 
ceremony in the courtyard. Every requirement 
of etiquette having been finally satisfied, we pushed 
forth into the darkness, and began our homeward 
march. The bearers of my norimono must have 
found their labors more severe on the return than 
on the outward trip ; but that gave me little con- 
cern at the moment. For an instant or two, I 
took a drowsy satisfaction in reflecting that the 
motion of my conveyance was favorable to diges- 
tion, and then sank into a profound sleep, which 
lasted until I was duly shot out at the door of 
our own temple in Asabu. 



196 Japanese Episodes, 



This which I have narrated happened in De- 
cember, 1870. At the close of the following 
February it was my duty again to visit the house 
on Kudan, but this time with a sadly different 
purpose. For several weeks the capital had been 
agitated with portentous rumors ; and, in spite of 
the mystery with which the prominent political 
leaders veiled their proceedings, it was evident 
that the public peace was menaced in some for- 
midable manner. Large bodies of troops poured 
into the city from the southern provinces ; and 
the augmentation of the guards at all the govern- 
ment offices, at the residences of high dignitaries, 
and at the numerous gates of the Mikado's castle, 
showed that unusual watchfulness and precaution 
were deemed essential. But no serious event 
occurred until the morning of the 27th, when the 
community was startled by the intelligence that 
Hirosawa had been murdered, while sleeping, 
just before dawn. A band of some thirty swords- 
men had broken into his dwelling, had hewn him 
literally into pieces, and had escaped before a 



A Japanese Statesman at Home, 197 

general alarm could be given. The purpose of 
the assassination, even if it has been discovered 
by the government, has never been revealed, even 
to the members of his family. Many specu- 
lations were rife at the period ; but none could 
thoroughly or satisfactorily explain the possible 
causes of animosity against a man whom every- 
body admitted to have been one of the most popu- 
lar of Japanese statesmen, who was not known 
to have a personal enemy in the world, and whose 
official career, although active and energetic, had 
never been aggressive or arrogant. Whatever 
may have been the ulterior intentions of the con- 
spirators, it is certain that the shock produced by 
this violent deed was so great as to check any 
further prosecution of their designs. The entire 
official population of Tokio resolved itself, for the 
time, into a species of detective force ; and the 
unanimous zeal displayed in endeavoring to trace 
the perpetrators of the murder apparentl}^ drove 
every thought from their minds, except that of 
concealment. At any rate, no general execution 
of the suspected plot was then attempted. 

Our little friend Kenzo had returned, only a 
few days before, full of glee and excitement, 
from his first visit to China. The blow was too 
heavy for his young spirit. I found him almost 



198 Japanese Episodes, 

speechless with grief, yet compelled to control 
his emotions, since all the formalities of the grave 
occasion must be conducted by him, the heir, and 
now the head of the family. The obsequies of 
an officer so high in station as Hirosawa had been 
required to be conducted with minute and ex- 
haustive ceremony, no detail of which could be 
regulated without his co-operation. It was a 
sorrowful sight, — our light-hearted companion 
stricken to despair by the overwhelming calamity, 
and oppressed with cares so far beyond his years 
and strength. But the severest part of his trial 
was soon to end. The funeral was fixed for the 
1st of March ; and from that time, although he 
would be obliged to remain closely at home for 
forty days, to receive, as chief mourner, visits of 
condolence, no active duties would be imposed 
upon him. 

The burial ceremonies themselves were as digni- 
fied, as solemn, and as truly touching, as any I have 
ever witnessed. No forms of respect and honor 
which Japanese customs allow were here omitted. 
Hundreds of civilians, many of them among the 
highest in the land, all clothed from head to foot 
in white, followed the body to the cemetery ; and 
a military escort was supplied by a regiment of 
Chosiu soldiers. The spot selected for the inter- 



A Japanese Statesman at Home. 199 

ment was upon the hill of Atanga, where only 
the remains of persons of eminent distinction 
are deposited. The rites of sepulture were ful- 
filled in a little temple at the base of the hill, 
after which the coffin was carried to the summit of 
a thickly wooded knoll, where the grave had been 
prepared. Here the entire assemblage passed 
before it, each individual prostrating himself for 
a moment, and reverently laying upon it a sprig 
of some consecrated tree. The nearest relations 
and friends knelt in a circle, and thus remained in 
silence until nightfall, when the tomb was closed, 
and all slowly withdrew, leaving every thing be- 
hind but the memory of Hii'osawa Hiosuke. 



A DAY IN A JAPANESE THEATRE. 




fE who would gain a just idea of the vari- 
ous qualities of a Japanese theatre — 
its conspicuous merits and its flagrant 
faults, its contrasts of rude simplicity and lavish 
splendor, its swift successions of dexterous illu- 
sion and awkward disenchantment, its alternating 
incongruities of genuine dramatic taste and skill, 
and reckless defiance of aesthetic and human pro- 
prieties — must give, at least, one uninterrupted 
day to its study, going early, and leaving only 
when all is finished. Repeated visits of shorter 
duration will hardly serve ; for they will almost 
surely exclude some element, not only of enter- 
tainment, but also of importance in estimating 
the general value of theatrical art among the 
Japanese. In the performances of one day, fair 
examples will probably be found of nearly all that 
they attempt to accomplish. Unlike the. Chinese, 
who are content to follow the course of a tortu- 
200 



A Bay in a Japanese Theatre, 201 

ous tragedy or complicated comedy through daj^s 
and weeks of evolution, the Japanese must have 
variety, as well as abundance, in their mimic 
sports. Their more active nature requires the 
stimulant of continual novelty ; and for the price 
of a single day's amusement, they expect, and 
usually receive, a complete Polonius's list of rep- 
resentations, with additional details of the kind 
referred to by Hamlet as more appropriate to the 
Polonial humor.^ One thorough visit, then, will 
doubtless enable the foreign spectator to satisfy 
himself as to the standard of the Nippon drama, 
and to determine its rank among like exhibitions 
in other lands. If it recommend itself to his 
gentle senses, there is nothing to prevent him 
from repeating the experiment as often as he may 
choose : if it weary him, there is nothing to pre- 
vent him from staying away as freel}^ as in any 
country where the form of government is supposed 
to be more liberal than in these islands of the 
Origin of the Sun. 

Put yourself, I pray, under my guidance for a 
day, and come with me to Asakusa, at once the 
busiest and the merriest quarter of Tokio. Here, 
amid the incessant bustle of trade, are congre- 
gated the best of the public amusements which 

1 ♦' He's for a jig," etc. 



202 Japanese Episodes. 

the great city possesses ; most of them under the 
shadow of the majestic temple of Kuwan-non, 
which, unlike the majority of temples, is kept 
constantly open and in operation, perhaps as an 
antidote to the poisonous influences of concen- 
trated commerce. Here are gardens, with quaint 
devices of dwarf forests, streams, and mountains, 
to tempt the curious. Here are archery-grounds, 
with nimble-fingered Oriental Dianas to fit the 
fugitive arrow to the evasive cord. Here are 
menageries, with nothing more ferocious about 
them than languid snakes and spiteful apes. Here 
are wax- works of truly marvellous fidelity, com- 
pared with which even Madame Tussaud's are 
commonplace caricatures. Here, also, are the 
theatres, — three of them, — keeping each other 
close company, as did once a famous row on the 
Boulevard du Temple. Of these we can take 
our choice. They are all alike externally, and 
are all sufficiently attractive to the eye, with gay 
flags protruding, and enormous lanterns depend- 
ing, from their balconies, and their walls covered, 
like those of many play-houses at home, with 
transparencies representing the most impressive 
scenes in the favorite dramas of the day. It 
matters little which we enter. We pass the flrst, 
learning that it is already compactly full, and 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre. 203 

the second, because, although it is but a little past 
eight o'clock, the performance has already begun. 
At the door of the third, the proprietor, or his 
assistant, waits, bowing and smiling, to receive 
us, and, ascertaining which part of the house we 
wish to be placed in, precedes us to our destina- 
tion, clearing the way, and making all comfortable 
before us, as an amiable usher would naturally 
do in any well-conducted American establishment. 
But, as regards payment, no word is spoken at 
this early period. That ungracious formality is 
left for a later stage. At present, the attendant's 
thoughts are occupied solely by his desire to bestow 
us comfortably in our box, with sundry cushions 
to mitigate the asperities of rough and angular 
boards, and with pots of fragrant tea to soothe 
the impatience of the interval before the opening 
of the day's dramatic budget. We may have 
chairs, European chairs, if we desire ; but, of 
course, we reject them, as on such an occasion we 
would reject any thing unnecessarily alien, and, 
folding ourselves together upon the matted floor, 
we commence our personal proceedings by an 
inspection of the house and the assemblage. 

It is certainly a plain and primitive edifice ; 
thoroughly substantial, and neat enough, but to- 
tally destitute of any thing approaching to luxury ; 



204 Japanese Episodes, 

covering a space about equal to that occupied by 
Niblo's Garden, in New York, though not equal 
to Niblo's in height ; four solid walls bound to- 
gether at the top by massive beams, and sheltered 
by a roof, the numerous apertures in which are 
so arranged, with broad shutters, as to produce 
specific scenic effects of light and shade. There 
is no ceiling, and, of course, no plastering or paint 
upon the woodwork in any part. The auditorial 
arrangements are not unlike those of the smaller 
French theatres. The centre of the floor is filled 
with stalls, or boxes, — the former name seems 
more appropriate here than it is with us, — square 
spaces separated from one another by partitions 
about ten inches high, each calculated comfort- 
ably to accommodate four, or possibly six per- 
sons. The aspect of the whole is suggestive of a 
magnified wafl[le-iron. Two aisles lead from the 
back of the house to the stage, which latter is not 
divided by any practical boundary from the body 
of the parquet, both being upon the same level. 
Indeed, these aisles appear to be intended rather 
for occasional exits and entrances of the actors 
than for the accommodation of visitors, the parti- 
tions between the boxes being sufficiently broad 
to afford an easy passage to the sure-footed 
Japanese. Along the outer side of each of the 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre. 205 

aisles a row of boxes, like the French loges^ ex- 
tends, constructed to hold four occupants apiece. 
The gallery — there is only one — chiefly consists 
of similar loges^ the space in the extreme rear 
corresponding to the least select part of our play- 
houses. Altogether there is ample room for some 
twelve hundred persons, and, with a little of the 
pressure which American ushers are accustomed 
to exert, two thousand might be introduced with- 
out serious difficulty. Mats and cushions are 
liberally supplied ; but no other conveniences are 
provided, or, indeed, looked for. The only decora- 
tions are a few colored hanging-curtains, stretch- 
ing from side to side like our stage " borders ; " 
rows of paper lanterns disposed about the edges 
of the gallery in the same manner as our gaseliers, 
and, like them, intended rather for ornament than 
use ; and long strips of cloth thrown over the 
fronts of conspicuous boxes above and below, 
emblazoned with the names of popular actors, the 
crests of tutelary deities, and the titles of certain 
plays that have proved especially attractive. The 
curtain occupies the same position as with us ; but 
there is no proscenium, and nothing to prevent 
the curious spectator from penetrating behind the 
scenes at pleasure, excepting his own sense of 
propriety. It is difficult to discover exactly what 



206 Japanese Episodes. 

restrictions do exist in this respect ; for even now, 
while the noise of preparation resounds, occupants 
of the front parquet-stalls occasionally lift the 
curtain before them, dart beneath it, and appear 
at the sides, having evidently chosen this speedier 
method of getting out, rather than a promenade 
along the somewhat narrow partition-tops ; and 
little children, eager to explore the yet un divulged 
mj^steries, leave their places, and, running down 
the aisles, peer curiously into the dim arena, un- 
molested and without rebuke. 

Half -past eight o'clock (an unusually late 
hour) , and the house is two-thirds full ; but the 
performance does not begin. We have yet time 
to take observations of the audience, which, 
gayly gossiping, seems to care very little for the 
delay. Most of those present have come pre- 
pared to make a day of it, and a half-hour more 
or less is of little moment to them. The elite 
appear to be in the upper boxes, nearest the 
stage, although many fine dresses and aristocratic 
tournures are visible both in the lower boxes and 
the central stalls. On one side, far in front, 
there happen to be grouped, this morning, nearly 
a hundred children, mostly girls, inexpressibly 
bewitching in their prett}^, gentle, innocent glee. 
I am never tired of paying tribute to the loveli- 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre, 207 

ness of the better . class of Japanese children. 
As they sit there just beneath us, in their bright 
holiday attire, they form a picture which many a 
painter that I know of would give all his old 
pallets to get sight of, yet will not take a brief 
month's voyage to find. For a contrast, we may 
turn to the rear upper boxes, which are in pos- 
session of a body of pleasure-seeking soldiers, 
whose appearance is not at all picturesque. The 
Japanese samurai^ in his transition state from 
nobleman's retainer- at-large to national guards- 
man, is as far as possible from an object of 
beauty. On entering his new military career, he 
is expected to throw off his former graceful but 
cumbrous robes, and adopt the garb of European 
armies ; and he does this not unwillingly, but still 
awkwardly and by slow gradations. Instead of 
dashing boldly across the Rubicon of dress re- 
form, he trifles on the brink, or plashes timidly 
and shallowly about, as if afraid of venturing 
too suddenly beyond his depth. The result is a 
series of the most extraordinary combinations 
that can be imagined, — fantastic hair-dressings, 
which refuse to accommodate themselves to the 
regulation cap ; striped trousers rolled up to the 
thighs to relieve the legs from an unaccustomed 
and oppressive warmth ; misalliances of the 



208 Japanese Episodes. 

long-sleeved, flowing Japanese sack, with tight- 
fitting breeches (sometimes with nothing more 
than woollen drawers), and, vice versa^ of the 
broad-legged liakama with close jackets ; and in 
numerous cases, when all other obstacles have 
been overcome, a resolute adherence to the Ja- 
panese sandals and high pattens, which alone 
are sufficiently destructive to every pretension of 
military bearing, as we understand it. Valor, 
however, is not dependent upon accidents of 
apparel ; and, if there is one quality which the 
samurai is known to possess in a higher degree 
than any other, it is that of indomitable physical 
courage. Behind the cluster of soldiers is a small 
gathering of neat-looking servants, apparently in 
waiting upon certain lofty yakunins^ who occupy 
some of the best places in the house, and who 
are, in turn, attendants of a very distinguished 
officer, who sits with a small party in a half -hid- 
den recess closely resembling one of those which, 
in old-fashioned French theatres, are situated 
upon the stage, behind the curtain. It is satis- 
factory to know that a recognized representative 
of Japanese dignity and mystery is near us ; but 
the real interest of the scene, at present, lies in 
the body of the house, among the stalls, which 
are more heterogeneously filled, and spiced with 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre. 209 

more variety. How polite, good-humored, and 
sociable they *all are ! There are obvious distinc- 
tions of rank in dress ; but, after the opening 
salutations of a conversation, there are none in 
intercourse. Though probably all strangers, they 
smile and jest, and puff one another's health in 
pinches of tobacco, and interchange candies and 
fruits like lifelong acquaintances. Candies and 
fruits ! There is abundance of these : for no 
London pit ever resounded more freely with cries 
of venders of every known species of superfluous 
refreshment ; and the trade they carry on is inces- 
sant, especially among the young folks, some of 
whom seem disposed to preclude all possibility of 
nourishing food, for that day at least, by surfeit- 
ing themselves with sweets at the outset. While 
we are amusing ourselves with the elaborate 
gravity with which these juvenile bargains are 
conducted, our friendly co-proprietor, or man- 
ager's assistant, or whatever he may be, comes 
to us with information that the real business is 
on the point of commencing, and hands us a 
package of programmes to prepare our minds 
properly for the delights in store, — to break, one 
might say, the artistic shock to us. Ah, these 
are indeed programmes ! For amplitude of de- 
scription, and copiousness of illustration, the new 



210 Ja]pane%e Episodes. 

worlds of Europe and America know nothing to 
compare with them. They are not slips or sheets 
of paper, but little books, neatly bound, and 
worth preserving as ornaments after their imme- 
diate purpose has been served. They present a 
list of the day's proposed entertainments, with 
names of the actors and portraits of some of 
the most distinguished among them, followed 
by very full analyses of the various plots, with 
colored illustrations of the principal scenes. 
Apart from their usefulness in the theatre, they 
are said to be amusing little volumes for all occa- 
sions. It is true that a price is put upon them ; 
but it is very small, — not more than a cent for 
each. As we pay for them, we learn also the 
price of our admission. This varies according 
to the hour when the visitor arrives ; and, as we 
are among the earliest, no charge can be higher 
than om's. It is about two '' 6w," or half a dol- 
lar apiece ; and if anybody can tell me where 
else upon earth you can go through so much by 
paying so little, I call upon him to deliver the 
information forthwith. 



A Bay in a Japanese Theatre. 211 



II. 



The attention of the audience is presently ar- 
rested by a series of sharp sounds behind the cur- 
tain, caused by rapping two hard and solid blocks 
of wood together, — a very common form of noti- 
fication everywhere in Japan, and one which 
again suggests the French theatrical method of 
warning. After a dozen or more of these raps, 
three blows upon a drum are heard ; and the 
curtain is rapidly drawn aside from the left of the 
stage to the right, revealing in the centre a neat 
and tasteful garden-scene, than which nothing 
need be more complete or more correctly designed. 
Less effective views and less accurate ' ' sets ' ' 
are often seen in more than one New York and 
London, not to say Paris theatre of pretention. 
The space occupied is small, — only about two- 
thirds the width of that disclosed by the with- 
drawal of the curtain, — and extending to what 
might correspond to the third entrance in one of 
our average sized houses ; but it is well filled. 
Whatever other contradictions to literal fidelity 
we may observe, there is certainly none of that 



212 Japanese Episodes, 

barbarous indifference, which, in Chinese theatres, 
allows the orchestra to be seen in full and noisy 
operation behind the actors, and demands no fur- 
ther concession to stage illusions than a portable 
bush to represent a forest, or a paper gate to stand 
for a walled city. The scenic appointments of 
the Japanese are quite well enough in their way ; 
imperfect, of course, considered from our point, 
but excellent as far as they go. The disposition 
of their musicians, however, is open to severer 
criticism, of which, by the by, they are unsparing 
themselves, but seem reluctant to overthrow the 
old traditions, even while acknowledging their 
absurdity. From what would be their prosce- 
nium, if they had a proscenium, to what would be 
the edges of their first wings, if they had those, 
stretch two little galleries or platforms, about five 
feet above the stage, in which the orchestras and 
choruses are stationed. There are generally three 
samisen^ or guitar-players, and three singers on 
each side ; and it should be mentioned that one 
of the justifications of their presence in so con- 
spicuous a position, is that the assistance of the 
choruses is supposed to be frequently required, to 
explain the progress of the drama. Their tuneful 
commentaries do, indeed, elucidate a great deal 
that might otherwise be obscure, and obviate the 



A Bay in a Japanese Theatre. 213 

necessity of much dialogue and many soliloquies, 
which, without some such substitute, would be 
indispensable. It is easy to say that the whole 
system is ridiculous : yet who shall determine 
where the line of musical illustration is to be 
drawn ? In many of our own melodramas, at least 
one-half of the action is sustained by orchestral 
accompaniments, and nobody disputes the value 
of such effects ; and, if we attempt to apply 
logical tests, which is the more unreasonable, — 
for a chorus to tell us what is secretly passing in 
the mind of a particular character, or for that 
character to proclaim it himself in an outspoken 
soliloquy ? And what mighty difference is there 
between being informed by three or four respecta- 
ble middle-aged gentlemen, in melodious unison, 
that " an interval of two months is supposed, 
etc.," and reading the same upon a play-bill? 
The truth is, that there is no defence for either 
chorus or soliloquy, and not much for the imperti- 
nent and superfluous suggestions of play-bills : so 
we can afford to pass these questions unanswered. 
They need not, indeed, present themselves at all 
in this opening scene of the Tokio theatre ; for 
we presently discover, that, before beginning the 
dramatic feast, a species of pantomimic prelude is 
offered, — intended, perhaps, to simulate a propi- 



214 Japanese Episodes. 

tiatory appeal to supernatural powers, or, perhaps, 
only to introduce the more diversified proceedings 
of the day by an act of formal greeting to the 
assemblage. The regular musicians, all dressed 
in rich but plain-colored robes of state, having 
taken their accustomed places, the doors of a 
pavilion in the mimic garden are opened, and a 
dozen more imposing figures enter therefrom, 
bearing instruments which are not employed in 
the orchestras, though familiar enough to the 
Japanese; namely, flutes, kotos ^^ and little drums 
of curious construction and various in tone, — 
some broad and shallow like tambourines, some 
long and slender, and some contracted like hour- 
glasses. These gravely seat themselves in a row, 
as a line of chairless negro minstrels might do, 
and, without much delay, open a lively tourna- 
ment of cacophonous rivalry with their neighbors 
overhead. The entries in the lists, however, are 
very gradual, and some five minutes pass before 
the whole force of twenty- four is in united opera- 
tion. An hour-glass drum, perched lengthwise 
upon the player's right shoulder, and smartly 

1 The koto is an instrument resembling a magnified ^olian harp, 
the strings of which are sometimes stretched upon a hollow box, but 
generally upon a large block of solid wood. Its tone is soft and 
melodious, much more so than that of the samisen, which differs 
little from our banjo. 



A Bay in a Japanese Theatre. 215 

tapped with the fingers of the left hand, is first 
sounded, the performer's voice following it in a 
monotonous recitative. Samisens in the galleries 
next emerge from silence, at first softly and 
timidly, as if afraid of intruding, but presentl}^ 
gathering boldness, with a rising energy that 
threatens to extinguish the solitary drum, and calls 
for re-enforcement below, which is hastily thrown 
in by the wry-necked fife. A sonorous platform 
chorister soon mingles in the emulous fray, pro- 
voking a vigorous rejoinder from the entire body 
of vocalists upon the floor. The twelve above 
reply with a flowing phrase. The twelve below 
retort with a shrill stanza. Then all the drums 
are heard in a fine frenzy rolling, the samisens 
twitter, the kotos twang, and twenty-two pairs of 
lungs pour forth their utmost volume. Two flute- 
players alone, having their mouths as well as 
their hands full, and being unacquainted with the 
American art of singing through the nose, are 
forced to abstain from swelling the choral strain. 
But the tumult is sujfficient with only their partial 
co-operation ; and so, lustily and vigorously, for 
some sixty seconds, without interruption, the 
acoustic anguish is prolonged. 

Suddenly, without premonition, and with no 
apparent cause, to inexperienced eyes, the com- 



216 Japanese Episodes. 

motion is multiplied by loud cries from the audi- 
ence. Nothing has happened upon the stage to 
occasion such an outburst ; but, following the gaze 
of the multitude, we perceive that two figures have 
entered from the rear of the parquet, and are now 
proceeding slowly down the aisles. The uproar 
of the populace is simply a demonstration of wel- 
come. The actors are evidently familiar favorites ; 
for, in addition to the usual welcome of cheers 
and clapping of hands, their names are shouted 
again and again by the more eager of their ad- 
mirers, — a proof of extreme popularity. Unmoved 
by the applause, they glide majestically to the 
middle of the aisles, where they pause, salute each 
other and the audience, and then, in a series of 
easy undulations, their feet seeming never to leave 
the floor, move onward again toward the stage, 
having at last reached the centre of which, they 
stand motionless, for a few seconds, in attitudes 
of singular freedom and grace. By this time 
the general agitation is subdued, and tranquillity 
reigns again. During the next ten minutes, no 
sound is heard excepting the most gentle touches 
of the samisens and kotos ^ and an occasional cry 
of ' ' Bando ! " or ' ' Danjuro 1 " — the names of the 
performers, — from some irrepressible enthusiast 
in the body of the house. Now is our opportunity 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre. 217 

for minute inspection. The characters represented 
are feminine ; but the impersonators are men, as 
is almost always the case in Japan. As far as 
appearance goes, the disguise presents few diffi- 
culties ; for it was until recently the custom of all 
women of position to powder their faces and necks 
in such profusion as to make the imitation of the 
artificial complexion an extremely easy matter. 
Certain prescribed touches of pink paint still 
further facilitate the masking of the countenance ; 
and the hair, of course, is counterfeited without 
trouble. It is in the movement of the body and 
the management of the dress that the cleverness 
of the actor is shown ; and in these details the 
couple before us are undoubtedly accomplished 
experts. Excepting their tallness, — and even this 
is not excessive, — there is nothing about them 
to betray their real sex to the most penetrating 
observation. Every trace of masculine angularity 
and stiffness has been banished from their frames. 
But these characteristics, which are afterward 
more curiously studied, do not at first strike us 
with so much surprise as the splendor of their 
apparel. Dresses more costly may sometimes be 
seen in Western theatres, but none at once so rich 
in material, so vivid in color, and so perfectly 
tasteful and harmonious in their extraordinary 



218 Japanese Episode:^. 

brilliancy. The chief materials are silk and 
velvet, of the finest Japanese quality, — which 
means the finest quality in the world, - — over- 
wrought with fanciful embroidery, and glittering 
with crystals and polished metals. The two cos- 
tumes are at first precisely alike in form, but so 
contrived in color, that one seems a blaze of gold, 
the other a glare of silver. The head of each 
actor is covered with a tall shining hat, from 
which a fringe of bullion falls, entirely concealing 
the hair. The throat and shoulders are swathed 
with glittering scarfs. A long robe, with sleeves 
of inordinate length, is lightly bound around the 
figure, closing in at the ankles, and suddenly 
expanding about the feet, like an inverted lotos- 
leaf. The waist is encircled by the broad Japan- 
ese cestus, or ohi^ heavily knotted at the back, 
in which are sheathed innocuous weapons and 
ornaments of various design. The combinations 
of color, and the effects produced by them, it is 
useless to attempt to describe : there is no proxi- 
mate standard of previous recollection to measure 
them by. It is sufficient to say that past visions 
of "Black Crook" costumes, — I believe some of 
the characters wore clothes in that famous specta- 
cle, — and those of similar displays, become dull 
and rusty in comparison. Moreover, one dress 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre. 219 

alone is not held sulfficient for the occasion. A 
few stately gestures, and the hats and outer gar- 
ments are thrown aside, disclosing a second and 
totally different attire, in no respect less striking 
than the first. And presently, after a haughty 
sweep around the stage, a third is unveiled, the 
most superb of all. The bodies of the two come- 
dians are now cleared for action, and a dignified 
dance begins. I say a dance, although it exhibits 
little of the activity which the word implies with 
us. In the feminine choregraphy of Japan, there 
is no saltatory motion. The men are marvels of 
vivacity, but the women are always comparatively 
calm and subdued. Their feet do not appear to 
be lifted from the ground. They glide from spot 
to spot, with bodies rhythmically vibrating, and 
arms seductively swaying, pausing now and again, 
in postures of approved Oriental coquetry, to 
beckon with a fan-flirt, or lure with a smile. But 
of animated action there is very little, and here, 
this morning, less than usual, since the purpose 
of the performance is grave and austere, rather 
than jubilant and mirth-inspiring. Nevertheless, 
it is full of grace, and is impressive from the 
elaborate precision with which the movements of 
the two dancers are blended ; and we willingly 
join in the acclamations which ring through the 



220 Japanese Episodes. 

house, as, after a final swoop and flourish of pro- 
digious expanse, they dart beneath the hanging- 
curtains of the pavilion, and vanish from public 
sisiht. 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre, 221 



III. 



Now, amid the bustle which ensues, — hum of 
conversation, cries of refreshment-sellers, and rat- 
tle of machinery upon the stage, — we look to our 
programmes for what is to follow. ''Bumbuku 
Chagama ' ' is announced. ' ' Bumbuku Chagama ' ' 
is a typical dramatic subject in Japan, and shall 
therefore be explained. The literature of the 
country is full of fanciful legends and fables, — 
some apparently derived from foreign sources, 
and arbitrarily adapted to Japanese traditions ; 
some exclusively national, and illustrative of such 
crude mythology as here exists. In the latter, the 
grotesque ideals of the fox, the badger, or some 
other mysteriously endowed animal, frequently fig- 
ure. They are very old, generally very brief, and 
always extremely popular. Every child is familiar 
with hundreds of them ; since they are circulated 
profusely in neat little pamphlets, drolly illus- 
trated, at the cheap rate of about a dozen for a 
cent. Theatrical versions of these tales form 
about half the stock in trade of the Tokio play- 
houses. As we shall by and by discover, the 



222 Japanese Episodes, 

dramatizations do not strictly follow the course 
of the original fables ; but divergences of this 
sort have always been the inalienable privilege of 
play- writers, from Shakespeare down to the lowest. 
Among them all, ''Bumbuku Chagama " is one 
of the best known and most frequently repre- 
sented. Why this is so, nobod}^ can satisfacto- 
rily explain ; for it is only of average merit, and, 
as a mere narrative, has very little romantic or 
even hmnan interest about it. But since it pos- 
sesses a certain prominence, both as a favorite 
nursery fiction and an accepted theatrical theme, 
a double purpose may be served by offering first 
a strictly literal translation, and afterward show- 
ing in what manner it has been thought judicious 
to re-arrange it for dramatic treatment. 

**BUMBUKU CHAGAMA; 

OR, 

THE BUBBLING TEAPOT. 

"Once upon a time, it is said, there lived a 
very old badger in the temple known as Morin-ji, 
where there was also an iron teapot called Bum- 
buku Chagama, which was a precious thing in that 
sacred place. One day, when the chief priest — 
who was fond of tea, and who kept the pot always 
banging in his own sitting-room — was about 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre. 223 

taking it as usual to make tea for drinking, a tail 
came out of it. He was startled, and called togeth- 
er all the little bonzes^ his pupils, that they might 
behold the apparition. Supposing it to be the 
mischievous work of a fox or badger, and being 
resolved to ascertain its real character, they made 
due preparations. Some of them tied handker- 
chiefs about their heads ; and some stripped their 
coats off the shoulders,-^ and armed themselves 
with sticks and bits of fire-wood. But, when they 
were about to beat the vessel down, wings came 
out of it ; and as it flew about from one side to 
another, like a dragon-fly, while they pursued it, 
they could neither strike nor secure it. Finallv, 
however, having closed all the windows and slid- 
ing-doors, after hunting it vigorously from one 
corner to another, they succeeded in confining it 
within a small space, and presently in captur- 
ing it. 

' ' While they were variously consulting what 
they should do with it, a low merchant, whose 
business it was to collect and sell waste-paper, 
entered opportunely, and they showed him the 
teapot, with the view of disposing of it to him, if 
possible. He, observing their eagerness, offered 

1 Customary preparations of laboring-men for any 
arduous toil. 



224 Japanese Episodes, 

for it a much lower price than it was worth ; but, 
as it was now considered a monstrous thing in the 
temple, they allowed him to have it, even at the 
unfair valuation. Greatly rejoiced, he took it, 
and hastily carried it away, and reached his home 
well satisfied with his bargain, looking forward to 
a handsome profit the next day, when he hoped 
to sell it to some lover of tea-drinking. 

''Night came on; and he laid himself down 
upon his cushions to rest, and, covering himself 
with blankets, slept soundly. But at a later hour, 
toward the middle of the night, the teapot once 
more changed itself into the form of a badger, 
a^l came out from the waste-paper basket in 
which it had been placed. The merchant was 
aroused by the noise, and caught the teapot while 
it was in flight ; and, by treating it kindly, gained 
its confidence and affection. In the course of 
time, moreover, it became so docile, that he was 
able to teach it rope-dancing and various other 
accomplishments. 

"The report soon spread that Bumbuku Cha- 
gama had learned to dance ; and the merchant 
was invited to various great and small provinces, 
where, also, he was summoned to exhibit the 
marvel before the daimios^ who bestowed upon 
him large gifts of gold and silver. In course of 



A Bay in a Japanese Theatre. 225 

time, he reflected that it was only through the tea- 
pot, which he had bought so cheap, that he had 
become prosperous, and felt it to be his duty to 
return it again, with some compensation, to the 
temple. He therefore . carried it thither, and, 
telling the chief priest the story of all his good- 
fortune, offered to restore it, together with one- 
half of the money he had gained. 

" The priest, well pleased with his gratitude 
and generosity, consented to receive the gifts. 
The badger was made the tutelary spirit of the 
temple, and the name of Bumbuku Chagama has 
remained famous in Morin-ji to the present day ; 
and the tale will be held in remembrance until the 
latest ages as a legend of ancient times." 

That is the whole story as it stands in popular 
literature. How it has been amplified and adorned 
for the stage, we shall now see. 

As the curtain- is drawn aside, we faintly discern 
the interior of a priest's apartment in the temple. 
The existence of an outer wall, toward the spec- 
tators, is, of course, left to the imagination ; but 
a door is outlined by which the room communi- 
cates with a garden, the shrubbery in which is 
thickly laden with snow. It is a stormy night, 
and the effect of gloom is augmented by the closing 



226 Japanese Episodes. 

of most of the large windows in the roof of the 
theatre. The wind moans, and the branches of 
the withered trees rustle uneasily. Upon the 
mats within, the chief priest sits or kneels beside 
his hi-bacJii (fire-bowl) , reading by the dim light 
of a large paper lantern. The iron teapot hangs 
upon the inner wall. The warmth and repose of 
this interior contrasts keenly with the restless 
discomfort of the scene outside. 

Entering by one of the aisles, a huntsman 
advances, clothed in furs, carrying his match- 
lock on his shoulder, and his game-bag on his 
thigh. In pantomime he bewails the hard fortune 
of the day. The falling snow has extinguished 
his fusee when he most needed it. His fingers, 
cramped by frost, have failed him at the moment 
of firing. He has lost his usual steadiness upon 
the slippery ground, and missed his aim repeatedly. 
He is weary, cold, and hungry. All this is admi- 
rably told in silent action. Suddenly he discovers 
the light in the temple. He runs and asks admis- 
sion. The old priest receives him hospitably, 
listens with interest to the tale of his misadven- 
tures, brings him cushions from behind a screen, 
and goes out in search of food, leaving directions 
for the huntsman to prepare hot water in the 
teapot. 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre, 227 

The gratified guest takes the huge vessel from 
its hook, and hangs it over the Jii-bachi. A terri- 
ble shock awaits him. No sooner is the influence 
of the fire felt upon it than it opens in front, and 
a grinning badger's head protrudes. He recoils, 
awe-stricken and speechless ; and, while he glares 
upon the apparition, it changes to a human coun- 
tenance, — that of a young and comely woman. 
He springs toward it ; but at that instant the priest 
returns, and the teapot resumes its ordinary shape. 

Trembling with excitement, the huntsman hur- 
riedly tells the marvellous story of what has 
happened. The priest attempts to pacify him, 
intimating that his brain is disturbed by hunger 
and exhaustion. The huntsman protests, but the 
priest is unconvinced. His scepticism, however, 
is speedily overthrown. He approaches the tea- 
pot to throw in the fragrant herb, when, lo ! it 
vanishes, and in its place stands a blooming 
musume^ all agitation and timidity, shrinking with 
sensitiveness, and cowering with confusion. The 
priest and huntsman, though greatly perplexed, 
are dazzled by her charms, and endeavor to re- 
assure her ; and she, coy and reluctant for a 
while, consents at last to be comforted. We ob- 
serve that she resolutely keeps her face toward 
her entertainers ; but, when she turns her back in 



228 Japanese Episodes, 

our direction, we (the audience) discover that the 
beautiful young lady has a bushy tail. This piece 
of caudal confidence is intended to let us into the 
secret, that, in spite of seductive appearances, 
the fair visitor is in reality an imp of mischief, 
and still a badger at bottom. But the two victims 
are completely deluded.^ The priest again retires, 
to fetch other refreshment especially suited to the 
delicate taste of his new guest. The huntsman 
and the beauty being left alone, flirtation ensues. 
From flirtation, the transition is rapid to ulterior 
consequences ; and a succession of scenes is en- 
acted almost as indescribable as some of those 
in Offenbach's '' Gerolstein," or ''Genevieve." 
Incidentally the couple withdraw behind a large 
screen, which occupies a corner of the apartment, 
the action being suggestive of a familiar piece of 
"business" in the first finale of ''Don Gio- 
vanni." The priest, returning, flutters, rages, 
writhes with jealousy. He is guilty of a mean- 
ness alike unbecoming to his character as a host 
and as a disciple of Buddha. He peeps through 
a crevice in the screen. What he' discovers, or 
thinks he discovers, may be imagined from the 
fact, that, on the re-appearance of the mysteri- 

1 This trick of badgers and foxes turning themselves into women 
to mislead weak mortals is frequent in Japanese fable. 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre, 229 

ous stranger, he essays the military manoeuvre of 
flanking her, and cutting off her rear. She is 
adroit and agile ; but the priest, though aged, is 
animated by a triple energy. He is consumed by 
curiosity, his moral senses are shocked, and the 
fiend of jealousy urges him on. Moreover, the 
lady is so eagerly faced by the huntsman, that 
she has little opportunity for afterthought. The 
priest at length finds his opportunity, and seizes 
it ; that is, he seizes the betraying member, — 
the tell- tail, if I may venture so to designate it. 
Then his eyes are fully opened. The disguise 
falls ; and we behold no longer a woman, but a 
badger unadorned, an unpalliated ground-hog, an 
ursus meles unmitigated and undissembled. With 
the huntsman, however, the illusion is prolonged. 
He has still faith in the feminine fraud ; and, 
while the priest is now chasing a four-footed fact 
with a bushy tail, he is pursuing a frolicsome 
phantom of his own species, with bright eyes, 
soft lips, and a dainty artificial complexion. The 
ardor of the priest at length prevails. The 
badger, incapable of longer maintaining its double 
identity, leaps once more into the teapot, which 
is grasped by the priest, and hurled from the 
window. The huntsman, with a wail of despair, 
flings himself after it ; and the benevolent Buddh- 



2o0 Japanese Episodes. 

ist, resolved to prosecute bis good work to the 
end, also clambers laboriously forth, uttering 
cries of remonstrance and warning. 

The scene slowly changes to a cemetery. Dusky 
gravestones are rimed with frost, and ignes fatui 
are flitting from mound to mound. The teapot 
lies upon the ground, as empty and desolate as 
the rest of the picture. It is evident that the 
badger has escaped. The huntsman runs in, 
looking from side to side, peering behind monu- 
ments, and listening acutely for his lost treasure. 
He espies it. It is there, half hidden behind a 
bush. As it moves swiftly away, he follows it. 
The priest appears, catches sight of the retreat- 
ing forms, and starts again in pursuit. We may 
judge that he intercepts the fugitives ; for he soon 
returns, driving the badger before him, and be- 
laboring it with his lantern-stick. The chase is 
long continued ; the sprite always showing itself 
in human form when the huntsman is near, and 
resuming its natural shape when approached by 
the priest. Before long, other badgers join the 
fray ; and for a while we have a wild hunt of the 
" Freischiitz " order, — a sort of Oriental Wal- 
purgis witch-dance. But nothing can elude the 
persistence of the priest. Harassed and worn 
out, the original badger once more seeks refuge 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre. 231 

in the teapot. The priest, with the fragment of 
a tombstone, shatters the receptacle to atoms. 
As it breaks, some mysterious spell seems to be 
broken with it. The obnoxious animals retire, 
howling. The gravestones fall, and reveal flowers 
and pleasant architectural images. The church- 
yard is transformed into a smiling garden ; and in 
the midst stands lovely woman, this time without 
a tail, as we are permitted to perceive, released 
from her enchantment, and ready to reward her 
adorer. He capers with glee ; the priest beams 
benignantly upon them ; and all ends as it should 
end, — abruptly, but happily. 



232 Japanese Episodes. 



IV. 



This may serve as a fair description of an ex- 
tremely popular though trivial class of Japanese 
drama. Of course, the supernatural element does 
not prevail in all ; but it is very frequently em- 
ployed, and is always heartily welcomed. We 
find, as the morning goes on, that lively comedies, 
and plays of the class which we call '' domestic," 
are common ; and historic episodes of political 
intrigue and warlike achievement are particularly 
favored, perhaps more so than the fables. One 
of the most agreeable to us — perhaps from the 
fact that we recognize in it an old acquaintance 
— is a pure fairy romance called "Momotaro," 
the story of which is a simple modification of our 
'' Fair One with the Golden Locks ; " the three 
friendly animals being, in this case, a pheasant, a 
monkey, and a dog. In all of them there is much 
to enjoy, something to admire, and a little to 
laugh at. The acting has more merit, and fewer 
faults, than we could have expected. In the 
portrayal of violent emotions, — of pride, terror, 
or rage, — these players could not be anywhere 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre. 238 

surpassed. Their truthfulness never wavers ; and, 
as a trifling commentary, it may be mentioned, 
that, during a certain ghost-scene, a party of 
children in the audience are so infected with the 
assumed fright of one of the actors, that they 
jump from their seats, and scamper out of the 
house in dismay. What is more, the actor in this 
scene, having fallen to the ground in an agony of 
alarm, and beifig obliged to make his exit at the 
moment, literally writhes himself along the aisle, 
and out of sight, in a series of convulsive throes, 
without once disturbing the illusion. He is upon 
the dangerous line of the ridiculous all the way, 
but he never oversteps it. In the gentler pas- 
sions, however, they are less successful ; and we, 
of course, are not to be deceived by any serious 
love-making, when we know that both the parties 
to it are of the stouter sex. We scoff at sentiment 
when we spy a beard under the muffler. But in 
lighter comedy, or farce, this is a matter of less 
importance. And, truly, the fellows are aston- 
ishingly clever in their feminine airs and graces. 
As we saw before, the mimicry of personal 
appearance is perfect enough ; but an insurmoun- 
table difficulty lies in the voice. The Japanese 
actors do not attempt, like the Chinese, to speak 
in a strained falsetto, but maintain their natural 



234 Japanese Episodes, 

tones ; and in this they are judicious, for, although 
they may not reproduce the real softness of 
womanly utterance, they at least avoid downright 
absurdity, which the Chinese never do. I am 
prepared to say, that, taken in a body, the 
Japanese comedians, as illustrators of the man- 
ners and feelings of their countrymen, are on a 
level with those of any Western nation. There 
is proof of close study and of genuine culture in 
all their performances ; and their most obvious 
error is not strictly a defect of art, but a defiance 
of nature. They complain, themselves, of the 
absence of women-players, and aver that they 
have often tried them, but have never found them 
sufficiently apt scholars. Perhaps they have not 
tried them with a due determination to make them 
succeed. Otherwise, they satisfy every reasona- 
ble requirement ; and this, I am sure, would be 
the judgment of all, who, while examining their 
acting as critically as need be, would dissociate 
it from its embarrassing accessories. The illogi- 
cal surroundings are what make it often appear 
irregular or grotesque ; and these are all really 
so extraneous and unnecessary, that they might 
be swept away at once, without disturbing in any 
degree the integrity of the representations. Put 
a company of first-class Japanese comedians upon 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre. 285 

one of our stages, and they might compete with the 
world, up to their limit of dramatic interpretation. 
Here, although they do not know it, they are need- 
lessly hampered in a variety of ways. It is no 
excuse for anomalies like the perpetual jingle of 
orchestra and clamor of chorus, to say that others 
just as bad exist in other theatrical systems ; 
and, so long as the Japanese actor has to contend 
against samisens and song-singers, he will always 
be at a disadvantage. The stage-arrangements, 
too, are ludicrously disregardful of the ars celare. 
The prompter usually stands in full view ; and for 
the removal or introduction of furniture, or other 
properties, there is a battalion of lad s-in- waiting, 
— gnome-like creatures in black, witli crape veils 
over their faces, — who run about the scene, pick- 
ing up a discarded dress, or supplying a sword 
whenever occasion demands. If a warrior falls 
dead upon the ground, after a combat quite as irra- 
tional as the '' three-up and three-down " broad- 
sword fights of our minor theatres, two of these 
attendants come forward, and stretch a shawl 
before him, under cover of which he rises and 
walks off the stage. Just picture the incongrui- 
ties ! After a passionate quarrel in which the 
rising wrath of each participant is depicted with 
masterly expression, a mock passage-at-arms 



286 Japanese Episodes. 

ensues, which would uot impose upon an infant. 
Receiving a death-wound, one of the duellists 
dies slowly and with a literalness of increasing 
torture which shows that he is following no imagi- 
nary model but has made himself perfect in the 
process by watchful observation, and immediatel}^ 
afterward jumps up and takes himself off behind 
a scarf which hides nothing. As to the scenic 
appliances, they are in most respects good, — 
more than merely good. There is no chance for 
broad effects, but the views are always prettily 
and elegantly painted. The method of scene- 
shifting is cumbersome, and wasteful of space, 
yet is not without a certain ingenuity of its own. 
The practicable stage is one large circle, which is 
bisected by the "flat," and which, being turned 
half around by hidden machinery, carries with it 
all that was in sight, and discloses an entirely 
fresh " set." The back of the old scene becomes 
the face of the new one. Sometimes groups of 
characters are thus made to disappear while their 
dialogue continues, and another body comes into 
view, laughing and chatting, more completely in 
medias res than is possible with us. Seen for the 
first time, this kind of change has a peculiar force. 
For other mechanical effects, the stage has plenty 
of traps, which are used for the ascent of spectres 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre. 237 

and spirits, for hiding-places in plays of intrigue, 
for secret passages in hostile surprises, and simi- 
lar purposes. 

The curtain having closed upon a particularly 
thrilling climax of bloodless carnage and animat- 
ed death, our good-natured assistant manager, 
or something, who has hovered protectingiy about 
us all day, comes again to the door of our box, 
and tells us, in a whisper, that the interval before 
the next performance will be long, and that, if 
we like, we may accompany him upon a short 
visit behind the scenes. This is indeed a privi- 
lege. We follow with alacrity, and soon find 
ourselves in the miclst of that familiar confusion 
and disorder, which, I suppose, must always be 
the same wherever the theatre flourishes. One 
touch of the coulisses makes the whole world kin. 
Carpenters are rushing about, balancing heavy 
''flats" against the air, property-men are gath- 
ering together and redistributing their stores, and 
the stage-director is dancing diabolically around, 
execrating every thing, and generally deporting 
himself with the fury and ferocity, which, as is 
well known, are necessary to keep the drama 
from going to the dogs. Are we really in Japan? 
Why, this might ^e an entr'acte in any metro- 
politan theatre where pure English is supposed to 



288 Japanese Episodes. 

be spoken. There is a degree of politeness pre- 
vailing here, amid all the hurry, which might 
elsewhere be thought to conflict with high art ; 
but, in all other respects, we, who have penetrated 
these mysteries in many climes, are entirely at 
home. Our conductor insists upon leading us up 
stairs, down stairs, and into the actors' chambers, 
assuring us that we shall not intrude, but, as 
strangers, will be perfectly welcome. AYe are 
shown the windlass by which the stage is turned, 
the contrivances for wind whistling and rain pat- 
tering, the paint and property rooms, and are 
finally introduced to the presence of the principal 
players, all of whom, assisted by their dressers, 
are arraying themselves for the coming represen- 
tations. They receive us very pleasantly, but 
are too busy to talk, as we well understand ; and 
so, after a formal salutation, we speedily leave 
them. One gentleman, however, gorgeously clad 
in nothing but paint, whose preparations are quite 
completed, constitutes himself our companion 
from this point, and directs our attention to a 
number of interesting details. AYe remark that 
we have not yet witnessed any of his acting, but 
that, in compensation, we shall see a great deal 
of him when he does appear, referring, mildlj^, 
to his nakedness. He is pleased to catch the 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre, 239 

subtle humor of our jest, and he explains that he 
is to personate a heto^ or groom, — one of a class 
which is distinguished all over Japan by profuse 
and elaborate tattooing ; and that he has been all 
day in the hands of a painter, who, as we see, has 
cleverly imitated the permanent decorations of 
the hostler tribe. In order properly to qualify 
himself as a heto^ he has relinquished some of his 
best parts to other players. Is not this real devo- 
tion? Could the enthusiasm of that tragedian, 
who, as Othello, blacked himself all over, be car- 
ried to a higher pitch ? 

The sounds of the samisen warn us away, and 
we return to our box to find the stage cleared for 
a species of ballet. Numerous dances follow one 
another, — some very merry, some more subdued, 
but none so rigidly grave as that which opened 
the events of the day. Pantomime enters freely 
into this performance. There is a fan-dance, in 
which the omnipresent toy is put to more coquet- 
tish uses than ever a Rosina dreamed of. There 
is a shuttlecock-dance, the implements of which, 
like Macbeth' s dagger, are but of the mind, but 
are capitally suggested by appropriate gesticu- 
lation. A favorite game with an elastic ball is 
worked into a dance ; and it is delightful to see 
with what mock energy the supposed ladies com- 



240 Japanese Episodes. 

pete for the possession of the plaything, — which 
does not exist, — and, having obtained the airy 
nothing, how each one, in a stooping posture, 
chases it about, withholding it to the last possible 
moment from other claimants. There are plenty 
of dances by men as well, and they amply sup- 
ply all that the women lack in activity. They 
have their own shuttlecock game ; and the violent 
struggles they depict, the collisions and over- 
throws, the mortification at missing a stroke, and 
the elation when especially successful, are irre- 
sistibly ludicrous, particularly as there are no 
shuttlecock and battledoor all the while. In the 
same way, they go through the movements of the 
butterfl}^ trick, of a certain dexterous feat with 
a looped handkerchief, and of vaulting exercises ; 
the material fabrics being equally baseless in 
every case. Toward the end of this divertise- 
ment, an ''umbrella-dance" is introduced, full 
of ingenious developments and strange surprises. 
The umbrella-dances which we have seen at home 
are stupid bores. Here the instrument is so con- 
trived, that although, when shut, it is quite ordi- 
nary and insignificant in appearance, '' with no 
points that any other umbrella might not have," 
when opened, it assumes, at the will o'f the holder, 
a dozen different shapes, colors, and dimensions. 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre, 241 

The various combinations are thus made to re- 
semble a brilliant pyrotechnic display. And the 
variety of uses to which they are put ! Half 
closed, they are worn as high-peaked hats. With 
the handles bent, they are disposed upon the stage 
to imitate beds of flowers, among which the 
dancers promenade. Rolled edgewise over the 
ground, they become the wheels of a Harlequin 
coach, in which the queen of the ballet seems to 
ride. We really have seen nothing like it on any 
of the continents. The closing dance is not so 
entirely foreign in character. The women still 
retain their gentle stateliness ; but, on the part of 
the men, it is a kind of raging cancan, worthy of 
the habitues of the Mabille, or even their coarser 
caricaturists, those female Bedouins of the stage, 
who, unsexed from the crown to the toe, figure in 
the modern English and American burlesque. 



242 Japanese Episodes. 



It is now long past noon ; and the exertion of 
long-continued applause, together with much 
laughter, has given us an appetite. We are in- 
formed that there are excellent tea-houses over 
the way ; and, repairing to one of these, we find 
all that is needed for a satisfactory luncheon. 
This accomplished, we return to the theatre, 
taking with us sundry packages of choice Tokio 
confectionery, which we do not want, but which 
were urged upon us so cannily by a pretty wait- 
ress, that we found our command of the Japanese 
language insufficient to refuse them. There is 
yet a considerable time to wait before the renewal 
of the revels. A great deal of lively conversa- 
tion is going on down stairs. The two-sworded 
jeunesse doree are wandering about from box to 
box, shedding compliments, and collecting smiles. 
A little piece of business just beneath us seems 
to mean mischief. A young liberty-taker has 
made a loop in a long paper string, and thrown 
it, lasso-like, over one of the projecting hairpins 
of a tidy-looking damsel in front of him, obvi- 



A Day in a Jaimnese Theatre. 243 

ously intending thus to establish a cord of sym- 
pathy between himself and her. Nevertheless, 
though he pulls as firmly as he dares, she is not 
perceptibly drawn toward him. The surrounding 
spectators are greatly amused. We plainly see 
that the restraints of Western theatres are not 
recognized here ; and, since larks are permitted 
and even encouraged, why should we not have 
one of our own? — by all means, an original, 
ingenious, spirited, and luminous lark, dazzlingly 
brilliant, but strictly innocent. We will lure 
from their nests below all the children that our 
. own box and the two adjoining, which are empty, 
can contain. Unwinding the strings from our 
bundles of candy, we bait them with sugarplums, 
and cautiously drop them over the sides, not 
within the reach of those below, — we are too 
clever for that, — but just outside of it. The 
children laugh and clutch hysterically. Their 
guardians are convulsed ; and, in fact, the entire 
audience thinka it about the best thing it has ever 
seen in its life. It is a magnificent popular suc- 
cess. We are only afraid that our friends behind 
the curtain may become envious. We beckon ; 
but the children shake their heads doubtingiy. 
They are not a bit afraid ; but some of them think 
they are, and others like to pretend to be. They 



244 Ja2)anese Einsodes. 

consult first together, then with their parents. 
The candy tempts them strongly, and so does the 
prospect of adventure. At last one little girl, a 
Winkelried in her way, runs up the aisle, climbs 
the staircase, and springs boldly in between us. 
Rien ne coute apresle 2^Temier pas, We are sur- 
rounded, stormed, and despoiled, before we can 
count ten in correct Japanese. It is more than a 
success : it is a triumph. We feel that a more 
flattering debut can seldom have been made in 
this establishment. We are approved by the 
multitude, esteemed by a select circle of mothers, 
and adored by the infants, most of whom remain 
with us during the rest of the day, highly confi- 
dential and contented, and behaving as, I think, 
only Japanese children know how to behave. 

The afternoon programme presents very little 
that is new. We have another historical sketch ; 
a ghost-story in which a dreadful cat first as a 
magician destroys, and afterwards as an animal 
devours, an entire family ; a comedy not long, 
but extremely broad ; and a second ballet. As 
twilight approaches, and we are preparing to leave, 
we are exhorted to wait yet a little, and witness 
what the French call a solennite^ — a first repre- 
sentation, and by candle-light; which latter con- 
dition is most unusual. Of course we consent 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre, 245 

to remain. Just before the termination of the 
ballet, a device well known in our theatres is 
practised. An actor, dressed simply as a citizen, 
rises from among the audience ^ and, attracting 
attention by cries and eccentric gestures, makes 
his way to the stage, having reached which, he 
changes his tone, and announces that his pur- 
pose was only to gain the public ear, and give 
information of the novelty in store, which is not 
set down in the bills. Everybody had risen to 
depart ; but now everybody sits down again, and 
immediately after, we see, through the increasing 
darkness, an immense number of people pouring 
in from the street, who rapidly fill every corner 
of the house. It appears, that on the occasion of 
a first performance, which always takes place at 
the close of a day, the theatre is thrown open, 
and any person may enter gratuitously. This is 
undoubtedly intended to accomplish what at home 
is done by the newspapers. If a piece is well 
received, the favorable report of a thousand indi- 
viduals is a good advertisement, and, indeed, is 
almost the only kind of public announcement 
possible in this place. As we have sometimes 
remarked in other communities, these free-comers 
are the most exigent of all auditors. While others 
are patient and calm, they immediately begin a 



246 Japanese Episodes. 

series of clappings, poundings, and cat- calls that 
carry us back in imagination to Drury Lane on 
Boxing Night, or the Bowery in a bad temper. 
Before the stage-arrangements are ready, twilight 
has deepened into dusk ; and, to dispel all doubt 
about the growing darkness, numbers of attendants 
proceed to render it visible by planting six dim 
candles along the line which with us is occupied 
by footlights. It is a fine specimen of what a 
notable emendator of ' ' Paradise Lost ' ' calls 
'' transpicuous gloom." When the curtain is 
drawn, it is wholly impossible to distinguish any 
object ; and it becomes a question whether we 
shall not have to content ourselves with colloquy, 
and imagine the action. But we have not yet 
fathomed the resources of the establishment. As 
the two actors who first take part in the new 
piece approach by the aisle, we see hovering before 
them a couple of will-o'-the-wisp-like lights, fas- 
tened to the end of long rods, and carried by a 
pair of the dark attendants before mentioned. 
Whenever a new performer appears upon the 
scene, he is preceded, and made partially distin- 
guishable, by one of these ; and when half a dozen 
are grouped together, the picture becomes weird 
and grotesque beyond description. This is so far 
outside the limits of possible illusion, that we cease 



A Day in a Japanese Theatre, 247 

to regard the representation as any thing but a 
curious experiment ; and, even thus considered, 
it soon fails to be amusing. The mass of the 
spectators, however, enjoy it amazingly, and are 
quite indifferent to the abnormal and incomplete 
method of illumination. They follow the play — 
a short farce — with keen intentness, shake the 
edifice with laughter over its comic incidents, and 
break out in a frenzy of applause at the close, 
which gives the actors ample assurance of a new 
success. The long theatrical day is at an end. 
Lights are extinguished ; and, with two thousand 
others, we blindly grope our way through intri- 
cate corridors, and down precipitous staircases, 
and emerge, with a sense of sudden relief, into the 
lively and well-lighted street. The last half-hour, 
certainly, has been a little oppressive ; for the rest 
— I have my own conviction, as you may sup- 
pose ; but one opinion, however sincere, does not 
make a verdict. May I have yours ? And, know- 
ing mine, do you think you can agree with me? 



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